The Events that Shape Us
by Xenopsyche
Summary: What events shape an individuals life? What effect do they have on their development? Do they mean anything if you're just a clone of another? Or, what if they cause your world of black and white to dissolve into infinite grey? A variation of the episode "D-Stabilized" with a focus on character action/reactions. Fourth in my 'Knife's Edge' timeline
1. Just Another Day

**Disclaimer:** I do not own 'Danny Phantom' or any of the characters, concepts etc. Those are owned by Butch Hartman/Nickelodeon, I believe. I make no claim to anything in this story, it is a perspective with hypothetical scenarios added in.

**[AN: Hey all, thanks for checking out this story. I've edited and refined a lot of the what I had originally posted so it should read better now.**

**This story is basically an expansion and alteration of the episode 'D-Stabilized' that fits in with my 'Knife's Edge' Timeline.**

**I hope you enjoy the story and if you have any questions, just ask. /AN]**

* * *

**The Events That Shape Us**

**Ch1: Just Another Day...**

* * *

"Mom, Dad, we're just heading out on patrol, we'll be back in time for dinner," Danny called in the direction of the kitchen as he, Sam and Tucker grabbed their gear and headed towards the door.

"Alright, stay safe you kids. Are you sure you don't want Jazz or one of us to come with you?" Maddie shouted back, sticking her head around the corner that led to the entryway.

"Nah, this should be pretty routine Mrs. F; but we'll call if we need some help," Tucker replied as he shouldered his pack and slipped out the door.

True to Tucker's prediction (for once), the patrol was perfectly ordinary; the Box Ghost had got out (and was promptly dealt with), a couple of simpler, non-sapient ghosts were running amuck (and were just as promptly dealt with) and by-and-large, everything was normal for Amity Park.

The Trio returned to FentonWorks just in time to find the pasta sauce boiling over on the stove and the roast vegetables and beef beginning to smoke… and combust.

"Remind me why we come to _your_ place for dinner again?" Tucker questioned in good humour while Danny cradled his head in his hands and Sam tried her best to suppress a chuckle at the all too common state of the Fenton's kitchen.

"Five bucks says that one of your Dad's experiments backfired spectacularly and distracted your Mom, _again_," Sam said as they placed their bags on the hooks near the door and began to limit the fire damage spreading through the supposed meal.

"I don't think anyone would bet against that, not after the last four times," Tucker replied as he removed the pasta sauce from the element.

"At least now it's less likely that one of those experiments will try and kill me; that got old, _fast_," Danny said. He gave up trying to fan away the slowly growing flames and just iced the entire meal, not holding out any hope of salvaging something edible from it anyway.

Sam and Tucker murmured their agreement.

"Okay, you guys order some takeaway; I'll go check on my parents. Jazz is probably nose deep in her study at the moment if she couldn't smell the smoke, so we should try to avoid disturbing her," Danny instructed as he sighed wearily and made his way down to the Lab.

* * *

"But it's radioactive Ectoplasm! It should be damaging them, not making them stronger!" Jack Fenton's booming voice exclaimed in dismay as he and Maddie continued their discussion.

"I don't understand either dear, but the kids will be back soon and we don't want to leave them without dinner now do we? We can come back to this on a full stomach; I want to figure this out as much as you do," Maddie replied as she placed a couple of beakers on a wash tray before turning towards the stairs and finding herself face-to-face with Danny.

"Dinner's already taken care of, Mom," Danny said, his tone implying it was 'taken care of' in the same way as the ghosts in the thermos he was holding were 'taken care of'. "Now would you like to tell me why it sounds like you're trying to find a way to give ghosts radiation poisoning?" Danny's voice remained chillingly calm as he spoke, like he was willing himself not to become angry… which he was.

For the most part, the last couple of weeks had been really good for the Fenton family as a whole. Ever since Danny had explained his nature as a Halfa to them, along with his role as Danny Phantom, the disconnect between the elder Fenton's and their children had diminished rapidly. But there were still times when things got a little… tense.

Like now.

"Ah, well, it was just an old project that we called 'Ecto-Dejecto'; we had tried it years ago, but it never worked properly. The idea was to use an unstable ectoplasmic isotope to inhibit a ghost's control over its own ectoplasmic form, but it always seemed to enhance it for some reason. Your father just decided to take another look at it in the light of everything we've learned since then. We thought it might be useful if you ever encountered a really powerful ghost," Maddie explained somewhat nervously.

Her son had grown substantially during his teenage years, and he was now an imposing 6'4"; not as tall as Jack, but more than tall enough to tower over most individuals, herself included. Combined with his leanly muscled frame and the level of power she had seen him demonstrate in combat, she could be forgiven for shrinking back slightly from his intense gaze.

Danny's shoulders slouched and his head drooped as he realised he had unintentionally intimidated his Mom… again. Stepping around his mother, he began to evict the ghosts that had recently been forced to take up residence inside the Thermos, explaining as he went.

"You guys do realise that ghosts basically feed off the energy from their Core, right? And an unstable ectoplasm isotope will be decaying rapidly and giving off lots of energy. Ghosts don't have any genetic or cellular structure to be damaged by high energy particles, so they just absorb it as extra energy. It's like giving them instant steroids mixed with adrenaline and caffeine."

Jack and Maddie just stared at him in surprise.

"What?! It's not like Jazz is the only smart one; it's not my fault I have to deal with ghost attacks rather than homework!" Danny exclaimed when he noticed their shocked expressions.

They both had the decency to look somewhat sheepish at that. It wasn't that they thought Danny was dumb, not by any means, it just took a while to realise that your teenage son who had barely scraped through most of his schooling in the last couple of years was, in fact, a genius that simply didn't have the time to worry about something as relatively trivial as homework.

"Come on, the food should be here soon, let's get up there before it gets cold," Danny sighed as he trudged back up the stairs.

* * *

"Mom, Dad, we're just going on patrol, we should be back in time for dinner," Danny called to no one in particular as the usual suspects walked quickly out of the door.

Another night, another patrol, and probably another botched dinner when they got back.

"I don't think I'm ever going to get used to _telling_ my parents I'm going out on patrol," Danny stated as he phased through a bush, transforming as he went.

"_I_ can't believe you got away with lying to them like you did for so long," Sam replied, shaking her head at some memory or other of one of his 'cover-stories'.

"Yeah dude, some of your excuses _were_ pretty terrible," Tucker agreed.

"Oh yeah? Like what?" Danny challenged.

"How about the time you said you were going out to feed the ducks at the pond… at 8pm… with no bread… IN THE _MIDDLE_ OF _WINTER_!" Sam exclaimed. She still couldn't believe that his parents had accepted that one, it was completely ridiculous! And it's not as though Danny was the most convincing liar either; there was more 'umms', 'errs' and awkward gaps in most of his excuses than there were words.

Danny wanted to respond but found he couldn't really say anything to that; it really wasn't one of his best moments. So he just shrugged and accepted the criticism.

The trio continued along their way, splitting up on occasion and grouping together again at others, Danny always staying out of sight when around Sam and Tucker lest someone saw them and began to put two and two together.

They had just reached the apex of the night's route when Danny's 'Ghost Sense' activated, instantly putting all three of them on high alert. Danny darted up high to get a better view and immediately found the cause.

A young girl, no more than 13 years of age and probably younger, was hovering above the city as if looking for something. Her silver-white hair and burning green eyes made her instantly recognisable, and the DP symbol on her black and silver customised suit certainly would have filled in the gaps for Danny if he had somehow forgotten.

But there was no way Danny would ever forget this girl.

Calling Sam and Tucker via the Fenton phones in each of their ears, he explained the situation.

"Hey guys, I, uh, found the ghost; it's Danielle. Would you mind if you just headed back and told my folks that I'm taking care of some stuff? You don't have to stay around for dinner, or anything. I just want to see why she's here and hopefully have the chance to catch up with her for a bit."

"Sure man, no problem; we totally get it," Tucker said in reply. They both knew about the complicated relationship between Danny and his clone, something that even Danny himself was unable to explain clearly.

Hopefully this visit would give him the chance to work out some stuff with her.

"Just don't forget to introduce us this time. Oh, and try and convince her to stay in Amity; now that your parents know about Halfas and Phantom, she could probably stay with you," Sam added.

"Thanks guys, I'll talk to you later," Danny said before flying off towards his clone/cousin/sister /relative-of-some-description.


	2. Reunion, Interrupted

**Disclaimer:** I do not own 'Danny Phantom' or any of the characters, concepts etc. Those are owned by Butch Hartman/Nickelodeon, I believe. I make no claim to anything in this story, it is a perspective with hypothetical scenarios added in.

* * *

**The Events That Shape Us**

**Ch2: Reunion, Interrupted**

* * *

Danielle floated high above Amity Park. She spun in place, hoping to catch a glimpse of Danny if he was around.

Normally she would have been flying all over the place looking for him, but with her core starting to destabilise, she wanted to keep the use of her powers to an absolute minimum. And she didn't just want to show up at FentonWorks (yes, the sign could be clearly seen, even from where she was), as she remembered hearing that Danny's parents were Ghost Hunters; Dani couldn't help but giggle at the irony.

On another note, she was really happy that her cousin had a friend to help him with his 'job'. She remembered Danny going _on_ _and_ _on and on_ about this girl named Sam, so maybe that was her? She didn't really remember if the black and red huntress she had met earlier had even told her her name; she hadn't been feeling her best after turning them both intangible to protect them from the collapsing building.

Come to think of it, where did she go? Didn't she say she wanted to see Danny too?

She really hoped she could find Danny soon because she really wasn't starting to feel so good…

* * *

Valerie was watching the small girl (no, _ghost_!) carefully as she waited behind a nearby building for Phantom to show up.

She couldn't believe how lucky she had been to find her so easily, and then she practically offered to lead her right to Phantom; it was the best two-for-one deal in history!

When Mr Masters originally asked her to keep an eye out for the female ghost, he had made it sound like she would be hard to find, and admittedly Valerie hadn't been expecting the whole 'I can make myself look human whenever I want' trick, but she had still found her within a day.

If only that damned Ghost Kid was as easy to find.

But it didn't matter now, if what the ghost had said was true, then Phantom should show up soon enough, and then all she had to do was make sure she didn't screw up her plan; she would only have one shot, after all.

Shifting her stance to something slightly more comfortable on her idling jet-sled, Valerie settled in to wait for her prey.

She didn't have to wait long.

* * *

The faintest tickle of cold brushed against Dani's throat, creating a sensation she hadn't felt for months. She began to spin a bit more frantically, hoping that it was Danny she was sensing and not some other ghost out to pick a fight with her; she wasn't sure she could survive a fight or a flight in her current state.

Luckily, it was Danny that she spied flying quickly towards her. He pulled up in a hover a couple of feet away and seemed to take in her appearance for a moment before meeting her gaze with his own radiant green irises.

"Danielle, what… why are you here? Not that I don't want you here or anything, the opposite, actually, but I didn't think you wanted to and… wait, what happened to you? You're covered in bruises! And why are you covered in dust?" The words just seemed to come tumbling out of Danny's mouth, like he had just blurted everything he was thinking about at that moment; which, knowing him, was probably true.

"Nice to see you too, cuz," she replied sardonically. She hadn't spent much time around Danny but she had quickly picked up his gift for sarcasm in the brief time they had fought against Vlad together.

"Yeah, it's nice to see you too Dani, I mean it's great, really great, but it's kind of a surprise, you know, with how you just left last time. I figured you didn't really want to hang around here," Danny said as he regained the capacity to form almost normal sentences.

Dani winced slightly at the unintentional accusation in his words; she had kinda left without much in the way of explanation last time.

"It wasn't that, it was just kinda weird after everything that had happened with that crazed-up fruitloop… I'm sorry I just left."

"Don't worry about it Danielle, I'm just glad that you're safe. You are safe, right? Vlad's not still chasing you or anything is he?" Danny said, sounding more than a little anxious towards the end.

"Uh, yeah, about that… I don't really know if Vlad's still after me but I kinda came here because, well, you remember the other clones right? And how they kinda fell apart if they tried to fight? Well, I'm not doing so well now, either…" Dani trailed off, carefully studying her boots.

Danny's eyes widened immediately as he realised what she was saying. He remembered all too well those broken and twisted versions of himself that Vlad had sent after him, each one loosing cohesion and deteriorating into a rapidly decaying pool of ectoplasm with the slightest damage or exertion.

All of them, except Dani.

"Jesus, Danielle, we have to get you to my parents, they should be able to help. Or maybe Frostbite would be a better option. Oh! Maybe Clockwork could do something…" Danny seemed to descend into his own thoughts as he frantically tried to work out the best way to help the young halfa in front of him.

Before Danny could fly off and take her with him, Danielle remembered that huntress that said she wanted to see him; maybe she'd show up soon…

"Wait! We can't go yet! I met a friend of yours, she said she wanted to see you as well, I thought she'd still be around here somewhere…"

Danny just looked at her in confusion. The only female friend he had was Sam and she definitely hadn't met Dani before this, and she'd been with him pretty much the whole time before they found Danielle. Dora was a possibility, but she would have contacted him as soon as she came through the portal. That left… Valerie, who worked for Vlad.

Oh crap.

"Dani," Danny asked slowly, nervously glancing around the area, searching for a glimpse of black and red, "what did this 'friend' look like, exactly?"

"She was wearing this cool red and black armour suit and she flew on this awesome jet-board thing. She hunts ghosts, like you. Is she that Sam girl you kept talking about? And why are you pulling on my arm, don't you want to wait for your friend?" Dani asked her barrage of questions, both excited and confused by whatever was happening.

Danny took a steadying breath to calm himself a bit and took stock of their situation. He had to get them both out of the open, preferably back to FentonWorks, before Valerie attacked; because there was no doubt in his mind that that's what she was planning. The hard part would be explaining that in an expedient manner to Dani.

With her tween body and all-to-mature attitude, it was easy to forget she really was, mentally, just a little kid still, but it really shone through at times when her curiosity and enthusiasm took a hold of her mind and that childish sparkle and wonderment entrenched itself.

Like now.

"Dani, we have to go, _now_. I'll meet up with my 'friend' later and no, she wasn't Sam, but I promise you'll get to meet her later, alright? But right now we need to get you to my parents so they can help make you better."

Dani just nodded in understanding, still not entirely sure what was going on, but the promise of feeling better was a good enough motivation for her.

Danny readjusted his grip on her hand and began to fly off, only to find himself face to face with an incoming EM grenade. Quickly dropping Dani's hand in an effort to protect her from the device, he braced himself for the pain.

It didn't disappoint.

Fire raged across his nerves as the disrupting effects of the EM field thrown out by the grenade played havoc with his ability to maintain control of his ectoplasm and as such he simply couldn't respond when a trio of ectoplasmic rounds hammered into him, leaving gaping burns across his torso where the ectoplasm that made up his external appearance had been completely burnt away. He could feel the lancing pain of heavy burns on his skin beneath the impact points and he immediately knew he was in trouble.

Looking up he could see Valerie speeding towards him, more weapons at the ready. He tried to urge Danielle to run, but she was suddenly enveloped in an electrified net before he could say anything. Her body spasmed violently as the current wracked her body, and before long she had collapsed limply into a foetal position inside the net, barely holding on to consciousness.

Dragging his eyes away from the terrible sight of Danielle's current state, Danny looked up angrily, just in time to see Valerie bringing a large electrified baton down across his face. The vicious blow sent him plummeting to the ground as electricity shot through his system, causing his muscles to contract uncontrollably.

He hit the ground hard, the impressive impact resistance of ectoplasm being the only thing that saved him from a shattered spine and ruptured internal organs. As his vision cleared, he could see Valerie standing on her board, gun levelled at his head with a trapped and beaten Dani hanging in the net from her board. He tried to move, to fight back, but he just couldn't; the residual EM interference was too great for him to really control any of his powers to a degree that they would do any good.

Seeing the defeated look in his eyes, Valerie hopped of her board and quickly snapped cuffs over his hands and feet.

"Phase locking tech that my benefactor gave me recently, it means you can't escape, and it disrupts your powers too, just in case you try anything stupid," she said casually as she hauled him up and onto the back of her sled, before tying on the locks to hard points on the surface of the board.

Danny winced in pain and sucked air in though gritted teeth as the rough handling aggravated the burns on his torso. Apparently, Valerie didn't like this.

"Night, night, Ghost Scum." Valerie sneered as she brought the butt of her ecto-gun down in another savage blow across his temple, and suddenly all Danny knew was black.

* * *

Valerie could hardly believe it. The adrenaline of battle was finally wearing off and she _still_ could barely believe she had actually caught _Phantom_, and his cousin or whatever she (_it!_) was.

When Mr Masters had said he could have a truck with a containment unit at her location in half and hour, she had been sceptical, but the truck had turned up in twenty minutes and that little phantom had been out of her life as quickly as she (_it_ _damnit_!) had entered it.

Now she had all the time in the world to deal with the _real_ Phantom. She would dispose of him soon enough, of course, but first she wanted to get as much information about ghosts as she could out of him. That was why he was currently spreadeagled between two sets of chains and pulleys in an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the town. Now all she had to do was wait for him to wake up before her interrogation could begin…


	3. No More Mr Nice Halfa

**Disclaimer:** I do not own 'Danny Phantom' or any of the characters, concepts etc. Those are owned by Butch Hartman/Nickelodeon, I believe. I make no claim to anything in this story, it is a perspective with hypothetical scenarios added in.

* * *

**The Events That Shape Us**

**Ch3: No More Mr. Nice Halfa**

* * *

Pain throbbed through Danny's mind as consciousness slowly returned to him.

The all-too-familiar stench of singed hair and burnt skin lingered in his nostrils, along with the stronger, ozone-like odour of decaying ectoplasm. That alone was enough to tell him that he was in trouble.

As such, Danny refrained from opening his eyes, instead electing to remain as motionless as possible; no point in alerting his captor/s that he was awake and alert.

The next thing he noticed was that he was suspended in the air, and definitely not floating. The alien sense of gravity tugging on his body and the pain that radiated from his shoulders and abdomen attested to that.

Soon it became clear precisely how he was suspended. His chest rippled with fire every time he took a breath and that caused the muscles in his shoulders to spasm. But they screamed out in even more pain as they had been forced to carry the weight of his entire body for who knows how long, spreadeagled as he was.

There was one final thing he needed to determine, but he needed his eyes for that. He cracked them open ever so slightly and found himself staring at the tip of an ash-white fringe of hair that fell haphazardly in front of his eyes.

That confirmed he was still in his Phantom form, which was both a huge relief and a source of confusion; normally when he was knocked unconscious he was forced to revert to his human form.

His thoughts were interrupted when his captor spoke up.

"I know you're awake Phantom, you're not a subtle as you think. And don't even bother trying to escape from those cuffs, I had hours to make sure you were nice and secure."

Sighing, Danny opened his eyes fully and lifted his head, luminescent eyes meeting polarised face-plate.

"What do you want, Valerie? I thought you would have wasted me on sight, or do you want to 'rip me apart, molecule by molecule' like the Fenton's used to?" Danny said, forcing his voice to stay calm as he took in his surroundings.

"Oh I am going to destroy you, Ghost," she spat, "but not before I get every bit of information about your kind I can from you."

"And you think I'm just going to tell you? You do know that torture doesn't work all that well on Ghosts, don't you?" Danny stated, still playing for time and neglecting to mention that torture would _definitely_ affect him considering his human physiology.

He tuned Valerie's rant out as he desperately began to scan the room. Where was Danielle? She was injured and on the verge of destabilising and she needed _help_, his help.

"Oi! Phantom! Are you listening to me?" Valerie shouted, aggravated and somewhat confused that her captive wasn't cowering in terror before her.

"Where's Danielle, Valerie?" Danny demanded, completely ignoring her threats.

"You don't get to ask questions Phantom; you're in no position to make demands," Valerie sneered.

She had complete faith in her restraints, and that was her most serious mistake.

Ice rushed up and over the chains and cuffs that held Danny in place, and with a single, violent movement he brought all of his limbs towards his chest, shattering the snap-frozen chains that had been intended to secure him. In a flash, he had dropped to the ground, batted away the stunned Valerie's weapon and slammed her armoured form into the nearest wall, his large hand firmly wrapped around her throat.

"How about now," he practically growled as he lifted Valerie off the ground by her neck and up to his face.

"What? But how… -The cuffs…!" Valerie choked out as she felt the iron-like grip of her arch-enemy's hand around her vulnerable throat. The pressure wasn't dangerous yet, but it was definitely uncomfortable.

"Oh, Vlad's new toys still work, just not as well as you thought. They inhibit and disrupt my powers, but they can't neutralise them completely, I'm too powerful for that now; or did our darling Mayor neglect to tell you that?" It was Danny's turn to sneer as his eyes glowed dangerously. Normally he wouldn't have done anything that might harm Valerie, but Dani was in trouble and if she wasn't here, then Vlad had her.

He was not going to let that psychopathic bastard do anything more to the poor girl.

"Where. Is. Danielle?" Danny's voice was ice cold and all but devoid of sympathy for the Huntress in his grasp.

For once in her life, Valerie was properly terrified. She had fought Phantom on dozens of occasions, and she had always assumed they were fairly evenly matched, seeing as neither one ever conclusively won any of their battles.

But now she saw just how wrong that assumption had been.

He had completely overpowered her, _with one hand_! And he had broken through her restraints like they were tissue paper, even with his injuries. She had no doubt that Phantom could kill her right now without breaking a sweat. The only thing that was probably keeping her alive was that he wanted to find out where that 'Danielle' ghost was, so there was no way she was going to tell him.

"I'm not telling you anything, _ghost_," she spat in defiance.

"I know you sent her to Vlad, Valerie. And I know he told you to track her down specifically; I'm guessing he told you that she was a huge threat, probably to himself, right?"

Valerie remained silent but the look of surprise that could be seen beneath her faceplate confirmed his suspicions.

"I guess he failed to mention that she is actually half human, or that she is little more than two years old after _he created her _in his _lab_, from _my_ DNA."

Valerie had stopped struggling now, apparently shocked by what she was hearing.

"And I imagine he didn't tell you that he wants to melt her down in order to study her, so he can perfect the process."

Valerie didn't move, she was still trying, and failing, to process everything Phantom had just said. He was right, eerily right, about what Mr Masters had told her about the ghost girl. But everything else… he had to be lying, right? There's no way Mr Masters, her _Mayor_, would do what Phantom was saying. And there was no way someone could be half ghost and half human, it just wasn't possible… but then, that girl had looked _really_ human before she showed herself to be a ghost. What if she actually _was_ a human…?

"Congratulations _Val_, you just handed over a little girl to a complete psychopath. I bet you're _reaaallllly _proud of yourself," sarcasm dripped from Danny's words as he drawled out his false congratulations, well beyond the point of caring in the slightest what Valerie thought of him.

In fact, Danny was angry right now, _really_ angry. The last time he had been this pissed off was when Undergrowth had taken over the town and enthralled Sam; and frankly, he wasn't going to let Valerie stand in the way of him getting to _his_ little girl.

…

Wait… where did that come from?

Did he really view Danielle as his _daughter_?

The thought ran through his mind and the answer followed immediately behind it.

Yes.

Yes, he did consider Danielle to be his daughter. She wasn't exactly his daughter in the traditional sense, but it was a much better descriptor than cousin (which she clearly wasn't) or clone (which she was so much more than).

And that realisation just added fuel to his icy rage.

"Tell me where she is," he ground out again, applying just a hint more pressure to his grip.

* * *

Danielle was in trouble. She was in _really_ big trouble, and she knew it. She hadn't been fast enough and now Vlad had her. And she led Danny into a trap! How could she be so stupid?!

And now here she was, strapped into a cloning chamber once again, with no one to help her. It's not like Danny would come and help her now, assuming he managed to get away anyway. But he was Danny Phantom, he would be alright.

But she was just a mistake, an imperfect copy. And she _definitely_ wasn't going to be alright.

She struggled futilely against her bonds again, desperately hoping that she might be able to get free.

Even if she could just change back to her human form, she knew she would feel better. Dani was starting to feel really bad now, and she could feel her ghost form beginning to falter and weaken; the destabilisation was setting in.

She wanted to cry out for help, for Danny, but he wouldn't hear her, not here.

Tears began to roll down her battered face without her permission, wetting the dirt and ectoplasm that coated it.

But her desperation turned to terror as a large, imposing figure floated out of the shadowy recesses that linked to the main lab.

"Now, now, Danielle, don't cry," a silky-smooth voice dripped with false caring as Plasmius emerged from the shadows, a smirk twitching the corners of his mouth upwards as he leered at his renegade experiment.

"You should be happy; after all, now you finally get to fulfil your singular purpose in life."


	4. Resisted Revelations

**Disclaimer:** I do not own 'Danny Phantom' or any of the characters, concepts etc. Those are owned by Butch Hartman/Nickelodeon, I believe. I make no claim to anything in this story, it is a perspective with hypothetical scenarios added in.

* * *

**The Events That Shape Us**

**Ch4: Resisted Revelations**

* * *

Vlad was, for once, rather pleased with his pawn's actions. She had not only managed to acquire his most infuriating of experiments, but also managed to delay young Daniel's misguided attempts to rescue the mistake that he viewed so fondly.

He was under no illusion that whatever Valerie had done to capture Daniel would hold him for long (the child had become remarkably powerful over the last year), but it would give him the time to analyse and finally dispose of his greatest error in judgement.

Still, time was of the essence, as Vlad, confident in his superiority though he was, couldn't be certain that he would be victorious in a confrontation with Daniel, especially if he factored in the boy's strange emotional connection to what, as far as he was aware, was his own clone.

Of course, if the boy ever discovered the truth, then the situation might be rather different, and far more dangerous. But again, he was confident that Daniel was unaware of the full details of his female counterpart's genesis.

With all this in mind, Vlad set to work, running a battery of standard medical tests and a number of non-standard ones, attempting to glean whatever information he could before the Core Destabilisation became acute and he could begin to observe exactly how the process worked.

His subject whimpered and pleaded after a pitiful attempt at defiance, but Vlad was unmoved. She was a means to an end, nothing more.

* * *

Dani had tried to be strong, like Danny, but everything hurt so much… she just couldn't keep the tears away.

And if she was honest with herself, Vlad terrified her. She had thought that he cared about her, that he would take care of her; but he didn't, he never had. For some reason, she was worth even less to him than the other clones, even though she was the only one that had lasted for any length of time.

She could feel the ectoplasm that encased her every cell beginning to shudder and writhe more frequently now; it wouldn't be long until her core died and then… what happens to a clone after they die?

Life and death, original and clone, all where things that were far beyond Dani's young mind, yet they were questions she had had to confront during her brief existence. But she didn't know that it wasn't normal for someone of her age, biological or actual, to have to wonder about what meaning, if any, their life had, or what it would be like to grow up with an actual family rather than a monster that considered you no more than an expendable tool, or worse, a mistake.

And so Dani began to cry and whimper and plead. She didn't understand why Vlad treated her like he did, or what he hoped to gain from his experiments. All she knew was that this was going to be the end of Danielle Phantom.

* * *

Valerie was still trying to process what Phantom had told her. It was so fantastical and ridiculous, she couldn't believe it. And it came from a _ghost_, she couldn't believe anything they said.

So why was she still trying to convince herself to ignore it?

A deep sigh could be heard from the figure still holding her against the wall as the grip around her throat lessened noticeably, before disappearing entirely. Valerie dropped awkwardly to the ground before sliding down the wall until she was sprawled on the cold, chipped concrete, massaging her chilled and likely bruised throat.

A roar of frustration from Phantom shook her out of her stupor as a rain of brick dust coated her armour and small chunks pinged off the ceramic plates. Looking up, she could see that Phantom had punched clean through the double-brick wall of the warehouse, not a foot away from where her head had been. An involuntary shiver ran down her spine as she imagined what might have happened if her head had of been in its path.

Phantom had begun pacing across the warehouse floor; not floating, but actually pacing. It was weird to see a ghost look so… grounded. Shaking her head to clear it of the questions surrounding the mysterious spectre, Valerie went back to wondering why she was actually beginning to believe all the accusations Phantom had made. They were crazy, but something about his tone made her stop and think; and those thoughts had grown, and spawned new thoughts.

Now, Valerie was beginning to question everything she thought she knew. Her neat little world of 'humans are good, ghosts are evil' was, against her will, beginning to blur into a world of (excuse the pun) grey where both humans and ghosts could be good or evil. And if you added these supposed half ghosts into the equation, then… what the hell then? If that little girl really was partly human…

"I'm not saying I believe you, but what is a half-ghost, exactly?" Valerie finally asked, her voice a little scratchy from the pressure exerted on her wind-pipe. She didn't want to believe this ghost, but if he was right, and that little girl _was_ actually half human, then she couldn't live with herself if she let her get hurt; especially after all she had done already.

Phantom stopped his pacing and turned and fixed his burning eyes on her.

"They're humans with an ectoplasmic core inside them; basically they have the same abilities as most ghosts, but they are also fully human."

"So you're saying…" Valerie began, unable to complete the sentence.

"…That Danielle is actually a human, just with ghost powers; yes," Phantom finished for her.

"But how do I know these half-ghost's even exist? I mean, I've certainly never heard of one," Valerie questioned, her stubborn nature slamming up barriers once again.

"They're rare, very rare. You could count them all on one hand. And they go to great lengths to keep it a secret, from people like you in particular," the black and silver ghost replied icily.

"Okay, but-" Valerie began only to be sharply cut off by Phantom.

"Look Valerie, I don't have time to play Twenty Questions with you. Just tell me which one of Vlad's mansion you sent Danielle to."

Valerie paused, weighing up her options. If Phantom was right and she didn't tell him, then she might be directly responsible for the death of this little girl. But if Phantom was lying to her and she did tell him, then she would be betraying her employer and putting him in serious danger. An image of a hungry, desperate little girl flashed unbidden into her mind. Then a memory of the same girl grabbing hold of her and turning her intangible as the building collapsed around them.

She still didn't know what to make of most of what Phantom had said, but she did know this; that little girl, Danielle, needed help, and Mayor Masters was hiding something from her.

Sighing at what she was about to do, Valerie met Phantom's cold glare.

"On the table, there's a record of the address; she should be there."

Phantom dashed over to the table and quickly flicked through a small pile of papers before he found the right one. He scanned the document quickly and memorised the address before turning to fly out of the building.

"Phantom, wait!" Valerie called out, and much to her surprise, the ghost did indeed freeze, turning carefully back to face her.

"I'm coming with you. I need to know if everything you said, about Danielle and about Mr Masters, is true or not. And you can be damned sure that I won't hesitate to take you down again if you lied to me."

The ghost didn't move for a couple of seconds, but finally he nodded in acceptance.

"Meet me at the edge of the town in twenty minutes; otherwise I'm leaving without you."

Valerie signalled her understanding, and then Phantom was gone; flying straight through the roof.

Valerie couldn't help but shake her head at what she had gotten herself into. This was turning into one wild night.

* * *

After Danny had left the warehouse, he immediately flew back to FentonWorks. He had briefly considered getting Sam and Tucker, but he didn't have time and if he told them what was going on, they'd only freak out and insist on going with him.

Instead, he decided it would be best to tell his parents, if only because they were probably a bit concerned that he had all but disappeared for a couple of hours after dark.

When he flew into the living room he was immediately greeted by a rather concerned and confused Maddie.

"Sweetheart, where have you been? Tucker said you had things to take care of, but we didn't think that they would take _four hours_! And what happened to your face? And your chest!?"

"Sorry Mom, but I'll have to explain everything later. Right now I need you and Dad to grab your gear and follow my ecto-signature in the GAV. I'll tell you where to meet me later."

"What? Why- What is this about young man? Can't you slow down for a minute and explain exactly what on earth you are talking about?"

"No Mom, I really can't. Look, I'll explain everything afterwards but right now I just don't have the time."

Noting the iron resolve in her son's hard expression, Maddie decided it would be best to just accept the situation.

"Alright, we'll be on the road in ten minutes; but I expect a full explanation when this is over."

"I know, and you'll get it, just… thanks. Wait, do you still have any of the original Ecto-dejecto in the Lab?"

"Yes, there's a full canister of it on the main workbench, why? Wait, never mind, just explain it later," Maddie said as she sighed and shook her head slightly in confused acceptance.

"Thanks Mom; this will all make sense soon, I hope."

And with that, he phased into the lab, grabbed the bottle in question and flew to the rendezvous point, attempting to bandage his chest wounds as he went.

* * *

Valerie arrived five minutes after he did, and he was struck with the thought that her sled might not be able to match his speed while flying.

As it turns out, he was right, with Valerie saying that it could do about 120mph, just a little over half of what he was capable of.

"Hmm, too slow… alright, brace yourself and try not to scream too much."

Not giving her a chance to wonder about what he meant, Danny grabbed her by the wrist and turned both of them intangible; he could survive the friction and G-force created when flying at over 200mph, but he had no idea if Valerie's suit could, so intangibility was the best option.

And then he took off.

The great thing about not being affected by gravity or air resistance was that there really wasn't that much trying to stop you from accelerating and as such, Danny was soon flying at a ridiculous velocity, with a screaming Valerie on her sled being pulled along behind him. He didn't know how fast he was going but he was pretty sure it was a new personal best.

As he flew off towards Vlad, Danny knew only one thing for certain:

If that son-of-a-bitch had done _anything_ to her, then there would be hell to pay.


	5. Checkmate

**Disclaimer:** I do not own 'Danny Phantom' or any of the characters, concepts etc. Those are owned by Butch Hartman/Nickelodeon, I believe. I make no claim to anything in this story, it is a perspective with hypothetical scenarios added in.

* * *

**The Events That Shape Us**

**Ch5: Checkmate**

* * *

Pain, lot's of pain.

That was all Danielle had been aware of for what felt like years but couldn't have been more than a couple of hours. Her muscles were starting to weaken and spasm, her skin felt like it was stretching painfully at points and breathing was becoming really difficult. And she had started to cough up small amounts of ectoplasm-coated blood.

She didn't need to be a doctor to know that that was very bad.

All in all, she could easily believe that this is what it felt like to have your entire cellular structure disintegrate.

She long ago lost track of what experiments Vlad had been running, but now it seemed like he had stopped. She was startled from her pain-based stupor by the silken voice of her creator.

"Do you know what happens when a halfa destabilises, Danielle? No, I don't suppose you would; allow me to explain. It's similar to true ghosts, the core that generates your power destabilises to a point where it can no longer generate the required amount of power and the control you have over systemic ectoplasm is lost," he began, floating serenely in front of her restrained form.

"Now if you were in your human form, this wouldn't be much cause for concern, you would simply no longer be a halfa, though the process may be quite painful. But because you just so happen to be stuck in your ghost form, well… you've seen what happens then," he smirked in callous amusement as she writhed slightly at the memories of seeing the other clones fall apart before her eyes.

"It's because of how the ectoplasm binds to our cells, you see," he continued, "when the field that controls it is lost, it remains in its last state, namely moulded around our cells, so when cohesion is lost, the ectoplasm takes the cells with it, ripping the body apart one cell at a time. It seems like a truly unpleasant way to perish, in my opinion," Vlad explained with a casual air that belied the horrifying nature of the situation he was describing.

All-in-all, Danielle could honestly say she had seen more empathy displayed in a Turkey sandwich than from this… monster.

She was scared and she was upset and she just wanted Danny. But he wasn't going to come; even if he wanted to, how would he know where to go? It was in that moment that Danielle realised just how truly hopeless her situation was.

She might not be truly alive, truly real, but Danielle just couldn't understand what she did to deserve this. So she asked.

"Why? Why are you letting this happen to me? Why won't you help me?" She pleaded, eyes welling with tears, both from the physical pain and the imminent nature of her death.

Vlad appraised her curiously, as if he was trying to determine if she was serious or not.

"Why, you ask? Foolish girl, surely you must have worked it out by now? No? But surely you must have wondered _why_ you were the only stable clone? _Why_ you, amongst all the others, were the only one _not_ identical to young Daniel, in age, appearance or gender?"

Danielle remained silent. She hadn't really thought about that stuff. But even if she had, it didn't mean anything to her; she was two, for crying out loud!

Plasmius sighed and shook his head sadly, expressing even more disappointment in what was simultaneously his most and least successful experiment.

"Clearly I should have spent more time educating you and the clones. You were an experiment Danielle, a test to see if a different method to achieving my goal would be viable. The cloning process simply wasn't working, it was only later that I discovered I needed a sample of his stem cells, so I decided to try another method. And you were the first result. Then you went and succeeded in capturing the young boy and in doing so sealed your own fate and the fate of that entire line of research."

Danielle still didn't understand, and it must have shown on her face, because Vlad looked even more displeased than he had before.

"Blasted girl, do you not see? You are not a clone. You are the result of extensive genetic modification and recombination between two sets of DNA. It was the next most promising method. It wouldn't produce an exact copy of Daniel, but it would be close; if I combined and selected the genes correctly. You were simply a test, to see whether the Destabilisation issue was endemic to the cloning process or not. Evidently, it is not. Regardless of what happened, this was always to be your ultimate fate, a vessel through which to study the cause and progression of Destabilisation, though you have proven to be substantially more trouble than you're worth."

Ignoring the slur at the end, Danielle's young mind struggled to process what she was being told and she tried to recall everything she had learnt about Biology.

She wasn't a clone, she was… something about two sets of DNA. Okay, DNA was genetic code and two set's meant two people, so two people that contributed to her genetic makeup, which meant… she- she had two biological parents!

She had two parents! She had a family!

But… one of them had to be Danny (there was no way Vlad had used anyone else as a base), and he wasn't even eighteen yet! She couldn't ask him to be her family; he already had enough to deal with. And he might not even know who her other parent was; or he might, which could make things even more difficult. And what about-

A sharp pain in her abdomen wrenched her from her joyous, if conflicted, thoughts and returned them to her current situation.

It didn't matter if she had a family, she was going to be dead soon; really soon if the way she was feeling was any indication.

* * *

Jack was thoroughly confused at the present moment.

Maddie had woken him up at 1 o'clock and said that Danny needed their help, so naturally he was out of bed and ready to go in 10 minutes. They had both piled into the Ghost Assault Vehicle, along with a small arsenal of weapons, and they had hit the road immediately, his excellent driving skills getting them to the edge of town in minutes.

But as Jack Fenton stared at the screen that showed Danny's approximate location, he could feel his jaw crumple in a heap on the ground somewhere nearby.

Danny was going _fast_. Really, really fast.

Their own tests had shown that Danny could reach speeds of about 200mph, which was incredibly fast in its own right, but now the tracking screen showed him doing about 320mph, and he was still accelerating!

Considering that the top speed of the GAV was barely 100mph, there was no way they'd ever catch up to him. Still, they said they would follow him, and so they would, even if they didn't have the slightest clue as to what had caused this strong of a reaction from their son.

Jack Fenton drove gamely on, trailing ever further behind as the miles dragged on. At this rate, whatever was going to happen would be over long before they could get there.

* * *

Soon the building in question came into sight. It was a reasonably small, innocuous structure, built as unobtrusively as possible in a heavily wooded part of remote forest; the perfect place for an experimental laboratory. And no doubt, there would be absolutely nothing to connect it to Vlad.

Vlad… Everything in Danny's mind was telling him he needed to calm down and think about the situation rationally, come up with a plan of attack to defeat the elder Halfa. But then there was that piece of his heart that constantly shouted '_Danielle is in trouble!_' endlessly, time and again until all he could think of was how much pain he could inflict on Vlad and what methods would be most enjoyable for inflicting it.

Maybe Valerie would have some tips… probably learnt from Vlad himself.

Gotta love poetic justice.

But he couldn't focus on that right now, he had to find Danielle, before she Destabilised, and get her to his parents. He couldn't let her down like this, he couldn't let her die.

He finally came to a stop about 500m from the building and let tangibility return to both him and Valerie.

"If you're information is right, Danielle should be in there, probably along with Plasmius, you might know him as the 'Wisconsin Ghost'. Plasmius is an… associate of Vlad's, and his main enforcer. I'm not going to ask you to help me, but if you do, target Plasmius as much as you want, but if you do _anything_ to hurt Danielle more than you already have… just, watch your shots."

Danny wanted to tell Valerie about Vlad's halfa status, but she barely believed what he was saying about Danielle, and he doubted she would take the news that Vlad was half-ghost any better. A solemn warning would have to do.

"If you think I'm gonna help you with this mess, then you are sorely mistaken, Phantom. I don't know what it between you and the other ghosts, but I am _not_ getting in the middle of it. I'm just here to find out if what you said about Mayor Masters is true or not," Valerie replied with a snort of derision, shifting her stance to cross her arms in defiance.

"Fine, I don't care, just stay out of the way," Danny snapped back before charging full speed towards the house, phasing right through the walls and leaving a stunned Valerie in his wake.

She had noticed something was off with Phantom tonight, he hadn't even tried to crack a joke the whole time, and he had been so impatient! What was this girl to him, that he cared so much? Besides, he was a ghost, ghosts weren't meant to be able to feel anything, let alone give half a damn about each other.

Nevertheless, Valerie approached the house as well, flying up to it and entering it by the more conventional means of the front door.

She figured she would just follow the sounds of the fighting until she reached the lab.

* * *

Vlad watched calmly as Daniel landed with a loud thud, the force of his landing cracking the tiles beneath him and his hands were barely containing the roiling ectoplasm concentrated around them. It didn't take long for him to take in the scene and judging by the look on his face, he did not like it.

Danielle was strapped into one of the cloning tubes with half-a-dozen machines, tubes and monitors hooked up to her, apparently unconscious. And floating above it all was Vlad, grinning sadistically at the younger halfa, amused by his sudden, aggressive appearance.

"Why hello Daniel, you took longer than I expected to get here, not that I am complaining. After all, it did give me more time with young Danielle here. So tell me, did you have to hospitalise Ms Grey to get here? Or perhaps you were unwilling to fight another friend and that's what delayed you, trying to appeal to her better nature? A futile attempt, I imagine, given her single-minded hatred of _you_."

Danny growled in frustration as a response, causing Vlad to chuckle and smirk further, feeling rather pleased to have so quickly riled up the child.

For that was Daniel's greatest weakness; his inability to effectively control his emotions. Anger could fuel his powers, pushing them to levels beyond what even Vlad could ever hope to achieve, but it also clouded his mind, and he lost the tactical gift that he had honed so sharply over the years. It made him sloppy and prone to mistakes; mistakes that any idiot could capitalise on.

And even more importantly, his emotional openness meant he could be twisted and moulded into compliance if you merely threatened one of his friends. It was a knife's edge to walk, but Vlad was confident in his own ability to manipulate the child.

"What have you done to her?" The irate child demanded.

"Nothing at all dear boy, only the most basic of non-invasive tests. Everything else is the work of the Destabilisation occurring in every cell of her body at this very moment. I hear it is quite painful; mainly from her."

Daniel clearly took offence to this as he stepped forward in what was presumably meant to be an intimidating manner while he prepared two powerful ecto-blasts in his hands, but Vlad wasn't in the slightest bit phased.

"Now, now Little Badger, do you think that is wise?" He mocked as his own hands lit up with crackling ectoplasmic energy, the eldritch magenta contrasting richly with his white suit, "Surely you know that exposure to ectoplasmic power of any kind will accelerate her Destabilisation. And judging by her current condition, she can't really afford to have it progress more rapidly, don't you agree?"

The poor boy seemed greatly distressed by this, obviously torn on what to do. Eventually though, he took a step back and the fire in his hands died down somewhat.

"Why are you doing this to her? She's just a kid! She doesn't deserve any of this!"

"Perhaps not, if she were a normal child, but you of all people should know that she isn't. No, she was created with a single purpose in mind, one that she is now in the process of fulfilling. I needed information on Destabilisation, to perfect my cloning technique, so she was created to facilitate that."

"You- You created her to _die_!? In one of your twisted experiments? One day Vlad, I am going to end you, _permanently_," the child threatened, eyes hard as steel and as cold as his ice core.

Vlad could almost believe the threat, if it weren't for the fact that he knew Daniel would never endanger his biological daughter, even if he didn't know that was the case.

It was at that moment that the experiment in question regained consciousness. She looked about wildly as she attempted to regain her bearings, before she found the source of her origin. Her eyes went wide in surprise and shock, before her face contorted into an image of twisted pain and she shouted a most surprising thing:

"Daddy! Help me!"

While the statement was certainly true enough, Vlad was surprised she had attached to the concept so quickly, seeing as it was only revealed to her an hour ago.

His thoughts were interrupted though as she let out a pained cry and then, with marked finality, she began to disintegrate.

It was then that a number of surprising events occurred.

* * *

Valerie had eventually found the lab, having taken longer than expected to find it due to the distinct lack of explosions marking its location. Still, when she arrived she was immediately faced with the same scene Phantom had seen, except now he was a part of it, squaring off with presumably the 'Plasmius' ghost he had referred to.

"- she was created with a single purpose in mind, one that she is now in the process of fulfilling. I needed information on Destabilisation, to perfect my cloning technique, so she was created to facilitate that," she heard Plasmius say, the ghost's voice sounding oddly familiar for a reason she couldn't place, like Phantom's was irritatingly familiar.

What was Destabilisation? She'd never heard of it, maybe it was some sought of Ghost disease? But either way, it did confirm that Danielle was created, though this ghost was claiming responsibility, not Mr Masters; though Phantom _did_ also say that this ghost was closely associated with him, and this _was_ the address Mr Master's had given her.

One statement wasn't going to be conclusive, though, so she kept listening.

"You- You created her to _die_!? In one of your twisted experiments? One day Vlad, I am going to end you, _permanently_," Phantom snarled, sounding impressively angry about the callous treatment of the girl.

While Valerie wasn't convinced it wasn't all just an act, there was something in the back of her mind that told her that he wasn't faking it. And if the girl was _actually_ part human, then could Valerie just sit back and let her be used as an experiment?

Before she could think through that moral conundrum, Danielle began to stir.

She looked frantic, desperate; she looked for all the world like a lost and afraid little girl who had been separated from her parents. And then everything changed when she saw Phantom.

"Daddy! Help me!" She shouted in a pained voice, desperate and on the verge of tears.

That cry hurt Valerie; it physically hurt her to listen to it. Despite her brusque and aggressive attitude, she could really empathise with the young girl. Her mother died when she was young, really young, so she had always had to rely on her dad as she grew up, and she knew that cry. That was the cry of a little girl who desperately needed her dad to come and help her.

And then it clicked.

Phantom… is her father…

That was why he was acting so differently, his _daughter_ was in trouble. Valerie suddenly felt _very_ lucky to be alive, considering that she was the one who put Danielle in this situation in the first place.

And as if those shocks weren't enough, the biggest was yet to come. The girl, Danielle, began to melt; honest-to-god _melt_. She didn't need to be a genius to work out that this was the Destabilisation she had heard referenced before.

And if she had had any doubt remaining about the relationship between Phantom and Danielle, it was erased by Phantom's equally pained reaction.

"Danielle! NO!"

Valerie couldn't stand to let this go on; no-one, not even a ghost, deserved to suffer through that. So she raised her rifle, and took aim.

* * *

Vlad was almost amused by the boy's desperate cry, it was practically humorous that he had developed any attachment to the girl considering her origin. But, apparently, he had.

Still, now was not the time to revel in Daniel's naïveté; he had only a short window of opportunity to observe the Destabilisation process before Daniel realised that he could attack freely without doing any more damage to his now defunct daughter.

So focused was he on the scene unfolding before him, that Vlad didn't notice the weapons fire directed at him until after it had hit him, stitching a line of impact wounds and burning ectoplasm across his torso and lower back, the force of the rounds bodily throwing him into a nearby workbench.

Looking for the source of the fire, he was shocked to see none other than Valerie Grey, fully clad in her Red Huntress attire and holding one of the weapons _he'd_ provided for her (designed to be specifically effective against Halfa's, of course; much to his chagrin) pointed right at him, ignoring Phantom standing not ten feet away!

Daniel had blind-sided him once again, turning one of his most useful pawns against him; Vlad could almost consider it impressive, if it wasn't for the fact that it was so aggravating.

Taking a brief moment to assess Danielle's condition, he realised that it would be at best a pyrrhic victory for young Daniel. Danielle was all but destabilised now and Vlad had been unable to find a preventative measure for it in nearly two years of research, so Danielle was as good as dead. He briefly considered staying to continue his observations, but Ms Grey's continued advance on his position and the pain from his wounds convinced him otherwise.

With a sharp flash of light and ectoplasmic energy, he teleported to the more secure location of his main Mansion; he would return to the laboratory later to retrieve what data he could from his experiment.


	6. Fallout

**Disclaimer:** I do not own 'Danny Phantom' or any of the characters, concepts etc. Those are owned by Butch Hartman/Nickelodeon, I believe. I make no claim to anything in this story, it is a perspective with hypothetical scenarios added in.

* * *

**The Events That Shape Us**

**Ch6: Fallout**

* * *

"Danielle! NO!"

She was destabilising, right in front of his eyes and he was powerless to help her. Vlad was still standing between them and even the slightest provocation would cause him to injure Danielle, and there was no chance she could survive even the weakest of Vlad's attacks in her current state. Of course, it didn't look like she could survive _in_ her current state either…

He wanted to rip Vlad apart, to strap him into a tube and make him destabilise, just to see what would happen, but he simply couldn't tear his eyes away from the horrifying sight of his daughter disintegrating before him.

He could feel the tears flowing freely down his face and he was about to charge straight for Vlad, consequences be damned, when suddenly Vlad wasn't in the way anymore.

No, Vlad was now crumpled into a workbench; his smoking wounds indicating he had been hit by an ecto-weapon of some sort.

And sure enough, there was Valerie, stalking towards the downed halfa and lining up for another shot. What she was doing here, Danny had no idea, but he wasn't going to complain about her timely intervention. As much as he would have loved to watch Valerie lay into Vlad, his attention was quickly drawn back to Danielle's rapidly fading form.

Trusting Valerie to take care of Vlad for the moment, he dashed over to Danielle's side and hurriedly, desperately, fumbled with the cap on the bottle of Ecto-Dejecto. He didn't have the slightest idea if this would do any good, but he had theorised that, if Destabilisation worked the way he thought it did, maybe all that the cores needed was to reach a specific energy threshold to become self-sustaining, like a fusion reaction.

Of course, that was before Danielle began to literally fall apart at the cellular level; but right now it was the only chance she had.

He began to spray the substance over the mass of ectoplasm that used to be Danielle before becoming frustrated and tearing off the top, electing to simply pour the entire bottle over 'her'.

He waited for ten tense seconds and then…

Nothing.

Absolutely no change. It didn't work.

He was too late; too late to save her and too late to protect her.

Emotion had always been a key trigger for his powers, and that was being proven true now more-so than ever before.

Icy rage ignited within him as his cores went into overdrive, ectoplasmic energy pouring out of every cell in his body as his every fibre yearned to teach Vlad exactly the type of pain and torment he was feeling right now.

He whipped around to face elder Halfa, only to find the coward gone, teleported away most likely. Only Valerie was left, looking on from a distance with concern and fear self-evident in her body language as she unconsciously backed away from the enraged Phantom.

As soon as she saw his eyes, she understood. She ran out of the basement laboratory quickly, not wanting to hang around for whatever he would do now.

It proved to be a wise decision.

All the energy that his cores had been producing, activated as they were by his anger and sorrow, had to go somewhere; so when Danny let out a scream of pain and anguish, it didn't take much for that to transform into a Ghostly Wail.

Soundwaves powered by pure ectoplasmic energy were channelled out from the aggrieved Halfa, smashing into the objects and structures surrounding him with impossible force. Foundations crumbled, equipment disintegrated and soon there was little left of the small house/laboratory except for a blindingly bright hemisphere of ectoplasm, shielding Danny and tube Danielle had been in.

The USGS would later record the event as a 3.6 magnitude Earthquake in the region, though they were never able to explain the cause or why it's Focus was practically at the surface.

Danny should have felt exhausted and drained after something like that, but he just felt cold and empty.

He could have spent hours like that, numb and unfeeling, but truly he had no idea how much time had passed before the faintest of sounds could be heard from inside the tube. His head whipped around instantly, his eyes searching for whatever was disturbing all that was left of his daughter.

Imagine his shock when it was those very remains, a mere pool of ectoplasm coated cells, which were writhing and twisting violently in the fluid collection unit at the base of the tube.

Danny stared dumbly at the impossible scene in front of him for some minutes as slowly but surely a shape began to form; a shape with a black and silver jumpsuit and flowing, silver-white hair.

In a currently faint and seemingly unimportant part of his mind, a voice was saying that his theory had been right, that the Ecto-dejecto _had_ jumpstarted her cellular cores, allowing them to produce the ectoplasmic energy required to maintain her form. And that maybe, just maybe, she could actually have survived this.

It was impossible, he knew that. There was no way Danielle could exist anymore after what had happened to her, there was no way anything neurological should be left of the girl he knew, but he couldn't help but hold onto the faintest glimmer of hope that maybe she had survived intact, both physically and mentally.

Finally, after what could have been an eternity for Danny, Danielle was fully formed, eyes closed and body slumped into the bottom of her tray, unmoving except for the faint rise and fall of her chest. A pair of vibrant rings washed over her unmoving form as her Phantom form fell away, leaving her all-to-human and all-to-vulnerable self curled up as before.

Without being fully cognoscente of his actions, Danny reached in and scooped _his_ little girl up into his arms, cradling her gently as he began to walk away from the carnage and horrors of Vlad's laboratory.

At the edge of the newly created clearing (read: impact flattened trees) he found Valerie, still clad in her armour and lightly cradling an ecto-gun. Danny tensed (naturally) but continued to walk forward.

"Hey! Phantom! I just wanted to say… thanks, for letting me come along. I'm still not really sure what the hell all that was, but I've learnt some stuff, stuff I need to think on. So, thanks, and sorry for getting you and Danielle into this mess in the first place."

Danny nodded his head in understanding, his throat still raw from the Wail, and he didn't fully trust his tongue to say anything useful at the moment anyway.

"Oh! And Phantom? I don't know what you ghosts do, but human girls really like it when their dads buy them ice cream, so just… keep that in mind; she could probably do with a distraction after… all this."

"Thanks, I'll… keep that in mind," Danny replied, forcing his raw vocal cords and parched tongue to make the sounds he wanted before he continued walking, leaving the wreckage far, far behind.

* * *

He had been walking for about twenty minutes, having finally reached a road that ran away from the isolated building, when Danielle shifted herself to rest more comfortably in his arms and then, sure enough, her eyelids flashed open, blinking rapidly in the light of the newly rising Sun.

Then she looked up at his face, her lips wide in one of her excited, innocent smiles that always managed to go on to infect him as well. And when she spoke, it was with a voice tinged with joy and trepidation, excitement and timidity. And for good reason.

"Hi, Daddy."


	7. But Wait, There's More!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own 'Danny Phantom' or any of the characters, concepts etc. Those are owned by Butch Hartman/Nickelodeon, I believe. I make no claim to anything in this story, it is a perspective with hypothetical scenarios added in.

* * *

**The Events That Shape Us**

**Ch6: But Wait, There's More!**

* * *

Danny had been walking down the road for two hours, Danielle sleeping comfortably in his arms, before the GAV skidded to a stop near his position.

Recognising the rather unique vehicle, he phased back into the visible spectrum, right next to the side door.

You can imagine Jack and Maddie's surprise when they found their son carefully holding a young girl who looked almost identical to him.

Without saying anything, Danny just walked on-board and tenderly laid the little girl down on one of the seat rows before covering her with a blanket and whispering something in her ear. Then he himself slumped into another set of chairs and let those now familiar rings rush over his body, leaving an exhausted and drained Danny Fenton half collapsed in the seat.

"So, uh, about all of this… I know I said I would explain it afterwards, but do you think I could get some sleep or something first? I'm kinda…" he trailed off, asleep before his head had even reached the back of the seat he was reclining on.

Maddie couldn't help but smile at the sight. As much as she wanted answers to all of her questions about this confusing night, she could wait. Walking over to the same cupboard that Danny had, she retrieved another blanket and carefully laid it across him, before whispering a goodnight in his ear and returning to her seat.

Watching his wife and son via one of the rear-view mirrors, Jack was hit by a sudden realisation. He wanted to shout it out now, to try and understand exactly how it was possible, but he knew it would be better to wait until they got home.

Then Danny could explain exactly how he had a twelve year old daughter.

* * *

Sure enough, when Danny awoke the next morning, he found himself in his bed, with Danielle on a spare mattress next to him, still sleeping contently, and a post-it note on his pillow that read:

_'When you are ready, come down stairs for some breakfast. And I believe you owe us some explanations young man : ) '_

Danny sighed and rubbed his face vigorously in an attempt to fully wake up, before stumbling out of bed and towards the bathroom.

As he was freshening up for the day ahead, he tried to work out exactly what he was going to tell his parents. I mean, how do you tell your parents that you have a female clone (he still hadn't worked out how that was possible) that you viewed like a daughter and who was also a halfa and happened to be the product of the twisted mind of your arch-enemy, who just so happened to be their old college friend?

Up until this point, he had avoided telling them about Vlad, because he wasn't sure exactly how much they could take in one sitting, but this time he might just have to. The fallout from doing so could be… problematic, however.

He didn't know how his parents would react to the news; he had no doubt that they would believe him, but what they would do when they discovered everything that Vlad had done… he couldn't let them go off half-cocked against someone as powerful as Vlad Masters. Besides, even if they could take him head-on, Vlad always liked to stay three steps ahead of his opponents, so he would definitely have multiple escape routes planned. And that's not even mentioning the damage he could do with his financial and political might.

Yes, he would have to explain Vlad to them, but he would have to do it carefully, for their own sakes.

Stepping out of the shower and intangibly drying himself, he dressed and went back to his room to check on Danielle.

She was still sleeping heavily; clearly the process of destabilising and then restabilising had taken a lot out of her. Writing her a quick note telling her that he would be downstairs, he gave her a light kiss on her forehead before walking down the stairs and into the kitchen.

* * *

Tentatively stepping down the stairs, Danny made his way to kitchen. Unsurprisingly, his parents were there waiting for him. The large plate of edible-looking breakfast, however, was a surprise.

"Hi honey, here's your breakfast, or maybe brunch is more accurate," His Mom said with a smile as she passed the plate to him.

"Um, okay?"

His mind really wasn't focusing on forming intelligible speech at the moment as he tried to work out exactly what was going on with his parents. They were too 'normal' and it was starting to creep him out, plus there was no way the breakfast he was carefully eating should be able to exist in this kitchen, nor should it have lasted more than five minutes with his Dad around.

Something was definitely up…

"So, sweety… how was did you sleep?" Maddie asked, and for reasons Danny couldn't begin to fathom, she sounded nervous about it, or at least massively awkward.

"Fine…?"

"That's great! So, uh, how do you like breakfast?"

"Look Mom, whatev-" Danny began to say before he was cut off the chime of the doorbell.

All three Fenton's were surprised when Jack opened the door to reveal the Red Huntress, standing in full armour on their doorstep.

Danny's first instinct was to disappear and get as far away from the house as possible, thinking that Valerie might have finally worked out his secret, but the distinct lack of drawn weapons and non-explosive entrance caused him to wait and see.

"Hi Mr Fenton, sorry for bothering you but I know you and Mrs Fenton sort of have an alliance with Phantom at the moment, and since you're the only humans he seems to associate with on a regular basis, I was wondering if you could give him this for me?"

She sounded tired, really tired, but that wasn't too surprising considering she had probably only just got back from a night of flying; Danny couldn't help but feel a bit guilty that he hadn't even thought about giving her a lift back.

As she was speaking, she had flicked open one of her webbing pouches and produced what looked to be an external hard-drive, a very high capacity external hard-drive.

"Just tell him it's from me and he'll know what it's about. Oh, and can you also tell him I know about Plasmius? Thanks," she said as she handed the hard-drive to Jack and hopped onto her board. And then with a brief roar of jet engines, she was gone.

'Huh, never thought I'd be so glad to see the Red Huntress show up at my front door. I wonder what's on the drive? And did she mean that she knows that Vlad is Plasmius?' Danny wondered to himself, more questions and possibilities swarming through his mind as he took the offered hard-drive from his dad.

"Danny, does this have something to do with what happened last night?" His father asked curiously as he looked from his son to the door where Valerie had been just minutes before.

"Yeah, it does… Let me get Tucker over here so he can get everything of this drive; hopefully it will make explaining everything easier."

* * *

Tucker was over in ten minutes flat when Danny explained that he now had a 4TB hard-drive that was presumably full of Vlad's files in his possession.

He had set everything up so that it could be downloaded onto and accessed from a secure network in the Fenton's lab. After spending a solid hour (time that Danny spent primarily checking on Danielle) running the data on the hard-drive through numerous security checks and different decryption software, it was finally ready to view.

Deciding to let Tuck look through the data first, Danny realised he couldn't delay explaining things to his parents any longer, and so he began to recount the events of the last night.

Right up until he was interrupted not ten minutes in by a rather frantic-sounding Tucker.

"Dude, you need to see this! Like, right now! And you _seriously _have to get Sam over here ASAP!"

The seriousness in Tucker's voice instantly put Danny on edge; it took a lot to get Tuck to act serious most of the time, so whatever this was, it had to be _big_.

"What is it Tuck?"

"See for yourself man…" he replied, pointing towards the large, overhead screen on which the current open file was displayed.

It took Danny and minute to read through everything and another minute to process what it said, before he reached the same conclusion Tucker had.

Quickly calling Sam's mobile, he waited impatiently for her to pick up and when she did, he didn't give her the chance to say anything.

"Sam, it's Danny; I need you to get my place ASAP. There's something you _really _need to see… it's about Danielle."

* * *

Sam got there in five minutes.

As soon as she heard the tone of Danny's voice, she knew something massive just happened and when he mentioned Danielle, well… it wasn't exactly hard for her to work out that he needed her there.

While Danny might not have been aware of it, it was pretty obvious to Sam that he didn't think of Danielle as clone or even a cousin; whatever bond they had was much deeper. She had never met the girl personally, but from the way Danny described her, you'd think she was the most perfect little girl in all the world. She couldn't help but think he sounded a bit like a nostalgic father, which, given his enormous Hero Complex, the close genetic ties and the notable age gap between them, might not actually be too far from the truth.

Regardless, if something had happened to Danielle, then Danny was going to be a mess, possibly a very volatile mess.

And so she got over to FetonWorks as quickly as she could manage, only slightly surprised to see Tucker's car already outside.

Danny met her at the door and ushered her down into the lab.

"What's going on Danny? Where's Danielle? Is she alright?" Sam queried as her boyfriend stormed down the stairs with an unreadable expression on his face.

"She's upstairs, asleep. She's fine, been better, but she's fine for the moment," Danny replied as he strode into the lab proper.

"Then why are you so frantic, what's wrong?" She said as she spun him around and gripped his shoulders, trying to get him to pause for a couple of seconds.

"Danielle… she's not my clone…" Danny said, visibly struggling to find the right words to use despite the apparent simplicity of the sentence.

"What? Of course she's your clone! She looks just like you! What else _could_ she be?" Sam replied incredulously.

It was true, if you eliminated the gender and age difference, they would have been almost identical. Sure, there were some slight differences in the facial structure that Sam had noticed in the picture Danny had shown them a while back and-

Oh… right… okay then.

Her sudden realisation must have showed on her face because Danny began watching her cautiously.

"She's your daughter, isn't she?" Sam asked quietly, already knowing the answer.

Of course she was his daughter! How had she not seen it before! You couldn't get a female by cloning a male! And the age difference! All of the other clones had been Danny's age thanks to the Telomere markers in the cells Vlad had cloned them from, but Danielle was younger, much younger.

All of that evidence, and she still hadn't seen it.

And that, of course, led to the obvious question of who the mother was. Danny would want to know, he wouldn't rest until he had found the m-mother of his child (it was hard for her to even think), even if it was a woman he had never met and who happened to live on a different continent, his sense of duty wouldn't let him just forget about it and carry on with life.

No wonder he had sounded so frantic, he was probably freaking out about how she would react, which, all things considered, was a pretty fair concern; because she definitely wasn't handling it so well right now.

"-our daughter."

Wait, what! She was too busy rambling to herself that she only caught the last bit of what Danny had said, or at least, she thought it was him.

Danny must have seen her uncomprehending expression as well because he repeated whatever he had just said.

"Sam, I said she's _our_ daughter, look!"

And sure enough, following Danny's finger led her eyes to the large screen with some documents displayed, one of which in particular was highlighted:

_'Primary DNA Source: Fenton, Daniel J._

_ Egg and Secondary DNA Source: Manson, Samantha R.'_

Well… she hadn't been expecting that.

So Danielle, the twelve year old halfa, created by Vlad to serve him, was actually her and Danny's daughter, from a biological standpoint?

"I might need to sit down for a while…"

No sooner had she said it then Danny had scooped her up in his arms and gently eased her into a nearby chair.

After a couple of minutes, Danny knelt down in front of her somewhat tentatively.

"Hey Sam, you remember how you wanted me to introduce you two? Well, uh, how would you like to go meet your, ah, our daughter?"


	8. Do You Want to Hold Your Daughter?

**Disclaimer:** I do not own 'Danny Phantom' or any of the characters, concepts etc. Those are owned by Butch Hartman/Nickelodeon, I believe. I make no claim to anything in this story, it is a perspective with hypothetical scenarios added in.

* * *

**The Events That Shape Us**

**Ch8: Do You Want to Hold Your Daughter?**

* * *

The pair entered Danny's room carefully, not wanting to disturb the younger halfa if she was still asleep.

Sure enough, she was blissfully sleeping, curled up on the mattress and under a small mountain of blankets.

At Sam's questioning eyebrow, Danny just rubbed his neck nervously and averted his eyes.

"I just didn't want her getting cold," he replied to the unvoiced question. Sam just rolled her eyes fondly at her boyfriend's overprotective antics.

Frankly, the relatively normal way he was acting was helping her substantially. Whether it was because the full implications of this hadn't really sunk in for him yet or not was unknown but ultimately irrelevant; he wasn't freaking out yet which made it way easier for Sam to process everything she was feeling at the moment.

She had a daughter. She wasn't even eighteen yet, and she had a daughter. And a (physically at least) twelve year old daughter, at that! That did make it a bit harder to explain, but it also proved that it wasn't some error in judgement on her or Danny's behalf; it's not like she and Danny ever did anything that could have got her pregnant, anyway! Though she did really want to find out exactly how that creep Vlad had managed to get a hold of one of her eggs…

Actually, on second thought, maybe she really _didn't_.

Regardless of the Fruit Loop's disturbing mind, Danny being the 'father' was a definite plus. Sam could honestly say she couldn't imagine having a family with any other man and she'd be lying if she said she hadn't considered (read: day-dreamed regularly about) the possibility of having a family with Danny, even before they had gotten together; though those dreams hadn't included having a tween daughter before she had even finished High School.

Well, nothing ever quite goes the way you planned in life, anyway.

Of course, that was all in the future, and there were a number of more immediate concerns to deal with, namely; how to tell _her_ parents, what to do about accommodation and schooling for Danielle, and what, exactly, _is_ her legal status?

Sam didn't think there was a specific category for Minors that were created via IVF without the consent or knowledge of the donors, especially if said donors were not even legally adults either, and doubly so if the resulting individual just happened to be half-ghost.

Money could buy a lot of things, but an entire existence… that was pushing it a bit.

Actually, come to think about it, a lot of those questions hinged on exactly what the Fenton's would say to explain Danielle's sudden appearance (for she would _definitely_ be staying in Amity Park this time, Danny would ensure that. And if he, for whatever reason, didn't, then _she_ would).

Of course, her immediate thought was to ensure that Danielle was fully recognised as her and Danny's daughter, legal complications be damned, but that would bring a lot of problems screaming into their lives very quickly.

Alternatively, they could downplay the relationship between them and Danielle, at least in public. This would make everything much easier to explain in the short term, but several much greater issues would arise in the future when they would want to properly acknowledge their familial ties.

She just knew she was going to have a killer migraine by the end of the day…

Sam was shaken out of her internal musings, however, when the mass of blankets began to twitch.

* * *

The world slowly began to resolve around Danielle as she inched towards wakefulness, her eyes slowly struggling open as if fighting leaden weights attached to her eyelids.

It had been a really long time since she had slept _that_ well.

Of course, when she did manage to open her eyes for long enough to get a sense of her surroundings, she could understand why. She was buried comfortably under more blankets than she had ever seen in her entire life and the mattress she was lying on was soft and springy.

A soft chuckle from behind her alerted her to the presence of someone else, and suddenly the contentedly sleepy feeling was gone, replaced instantly by alert tenseness as she struggled to face the intruder through the mass of warm blankets.

This, of course, only made the individual in question laugh harder, and a second, more richly feminine laugh joined the first.

Before she could remember she was a halfa and simply phase _through_ the blankets, a familiar voice called out softly.

"Shhh, don't worry Dani, it's just me, you're safe."

Upon hearing Danny's voice, she calmed immediately, knowing without a doubt in her mind that she was indeed safe. Soon enough, the blankets were being removed from around her form and she could move more freely, finally turning to face Danny.

"Hi Dad- I mean, Danny…" She trailed off, her bright expression fading as she realised her slip-up. Danny probably didn't know that she was actually his biological daughter, and she had already decided it wouldn't be fair to tell him; she would just have to be more careful.

"Wait? You already know?" Danny's face betrayed his surprise, if the sharp jump in his pitch wasn't enough of a giveaway.

"Know what?" She replied in confusion.

"That you're my Daughter!"

"Wait, you know? How do _you_ know?"

Neither incredulous halfa saw the amused smirk forming on the lips of one thoroughly entertained Sam Manson.

* * *

'They really are so much alike.' She thought to herself as she watched her boyfriend and… daughter try to come to terms with the fact that they both now knew of their father/daughter relationship.

'It would be hilarious, if it didn't mean I now had to put up with two of them…' she laughed inwardly, 'who am I kidding, it's part of what I love about Danny, and now, I guess, Danielle too.'

Knowing that this could quite possibly go on for a while yet, Sam decided to remind them of her presence.

"Ahem, I do believe you mean _our_ Daughter…"

* * *

Danielle's surprised thoughts were interrupted by a forceful cough.

"Ahem, I do believe you mean _our_ Daughter…"

Turning to face the new voice, Dani found herself looking at a pretty (but kinda scary) girl about the same age as Danny. She was wearing black cargo pants and a black and purple top, with lots of dark and spiky jewellery. And she had really cool purple eyes!

Daddy looked kinda nervous now (more so than normal, at least).

"Ah yeah, sorry… Um Danielle, this is Sam, she's…" he was struggling, again, so Danielle decided it would be more expedient to ask her own question.

"Are you my Mum?"

The girl looked surprised for a moment, before a smirk appeared on her lips as she faced Danny.

"Well we know where she got her directness from, because it certainly wasn't you."

While the embarrassed blush on her Dad's face was funny, it still didn't answer her question, so she asked again.

"So, are you?"

The girl's smirk settled into a gentle smile as she looked back at Dani.

"Yes, Danielle, I'm Sam, you're biological Mum."

"Awesome! I really like you're eyes, they're pretty and- Wait, you said you're my _biological_ Mum, does that mean you don't want to be my actual Mum?" Dani asked quickly, her emotions doing a sharp 180 from excitement to fear in the space of a second.

"Don't worry Danielle, I fully intend to be your real Mum, the one who raises and takes care of you."

Without warning, Dani launched herself into her Mum's arms.

Shaking off her surprise, Sam carefully hugged her back, not entirely sure about what to do with this sudden bout of physical contact.

After a couple of moments, Dani pulled back slightly so she could look at both of her parents.

"Does that mean you and Daddy are together?"

"Yes Danielle, Sam and I are dating, we have been for a couple of months now," Danny replied, looking on happily at his two favourite females.

"But what if you… break up? Dani asked, whispering the last part carefully. She really didn't want it to happen, but she needed to know what would happen to her family if it did.

"Dani, Sam and I have been Best Friends for more than ten years, and we're still Best Friends now; I don't think anything can change that. We'll always be in your life," Danny replied, gently squeezing Sam's hand in reassurance.

"Sooo, you're not going to break up?" Dani asked again; that wasn't really the answer she was looking for, after all.

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Danny said with a slight chuckle at his daughter's persistence.

"Me either," Sam affirmed, smiling at her Daughter and her Boyfriend.

Dani smiled brilliantly before hugging Sam tightly again, then leaning over to include her Dad in the hug. After the family moment was over, Dani looked up again, a spark of realisation in her eyes.

"Wait, are you the Sam that Daddy kept talking about again and again and again?" She asked, her head bobbing every time she repeated the word.

Sam eyed her boyfriend suspiciously before turning to look back at the young halfa sitting in her lap.

"Well I certainly hope so. Tell me, what did he say?"

It's amazing that Danny's face wasn't permanently stained red from embarrassment after Danielle's _interestingly_ paraphrased recounting.


	9. Data Recovery

**Disclaimer:** I do not own 'Danny Phantom' or any of the characters, concepts etc. Those are owned by Butch Hartman/Nickelodeon, I believe. I make no claim to anything in this story, it is a perspective with hypothetical scenarios added in.

* * *

**The Events That Shape Us**

**Ch9: Data Recovery**

* * *

It was a rather picturesque day in Amity Park; the sun was shining, the birds were singing, families were enjoying time with each other at the park, and there wasn't a ghost in sight. In fact, the only thing that looked out of place in the entire picture (if one discounted the lack of screaming civilians and cackling ghosts) was a brooding young woman of African-American descent.

Yes, Valerie Grey was actually quite mismatched with her surroundings as she wandered aimlessly though the less people-filled areas of the Town's park, while her mind worked furiously to try and piece together some semblance of logical thought about everything that had happened the night just prior.

Everything she thought she had known had come tumbling down in little more than five hours. How was it that within those five hours she had come within inches of achieving the very goal that she had devoted herself to, that caused her to become the Red Huntress, and then ended up wishing she had never been foolish and vindictive enough to take up Mr Masters' offer?

She really should have known better.

Vladimir Masters, Renowned Businessman, Billionaire, Philanthropist, Genius Researcher, her Sponsor and Mayor of Amity Park, was a ghost. More specifically, he was a half-ghost, with his alter-ego being none other than the feared and viciously aggressive Wisconsin Ghost, or Plasmius, as Phantom had called him.

She could barely believe it, even after she had seen him change with her own eyes…

* * *

**/\\\ Flashback...**

* * *

She had been picking through the rubble of the Lab, just in case any information about exactly what had been going on there had survived Phantom's purge, when she caught a glimpse of what looked like a safe of some kind, partially buried in the rubble.

It was small, not more than 1ft cubed, but it looked thick, really thick; and there was another problem.

At first she thought it must have just fallen on its opening side, but after a couple of minutes of trying to lever it into a different position, she realised that wasn't the case at all.

In fact, there was no door. There was no lock, no keypad, nothing. The entire thing was a single metal box with no openings.

Valerie stared at it blankly, trying to work out exactly what its purpose must have been, considering it was imbedded in the debris of a concrete wall.

It took a moment before it clicked.

It _was _a wall safe, but a ghost wouldn't need a door on it, they could just reach into it intangibly in order to retrieve whatever was inside. And whatever was inside it must have been quite important for Plasmius to have gone to all this trouble to hide and protect it.

She ran an un-gloved hand across it, but aside from some slight warping from whatever the hell it was that Phantom had done to this place, the entire thing was pretty much solid; certainly there were no obvious weaknesses she could exploit to get it open.

And since she couldn't turn intangible, Phantom had already left with Danielle and her chances of carrying this thing pack to Amity Park were lower than a Snowball's chance in Hell, she only really had one option; cut it open.

Reaching into her webbing belt, she grabbed her miniaturised plasma cutter (another gift of Vlad's, ironically), and tried to select the best place to cut in. She didn't want to damage whatever was inside, which was why the torch was her last resort, but if nothing else it would stop Plasmius from getting his hands on it if/when he came back.

It took the better part of fifteen minutes but she finally managed to cut a reasonable hole in the 5cm thick steel, large enough that she could at least get her hand into it. She ran her fingers around the inside of the tiny space, looking for whatever Plasmius had hidden in here, carefully brushing the newly heated metal walls and probing for anything out of place.

With a space that size, it didn't take long to check. The only thing inside the safe was a single External Hard-Drive, a multi-terabyte hard-drive by the looks of it, too.

'It must be a backup,' she realised, 'the ultimate backup for all of Plasmius' work at this lab… and maybe his work on Danielle.'

Though she was loathe to admit it, if this involved his Daughter, then Phantom needed to see it, and he needed to see it ASAP.

Pocketing the Hard-Drive, she was about to make her way back to Amity Park, only now realising how long the flight would probably be, much to her dismay, when an sharp flash of crimson light washed over the pulverised remains of the structure.

Valerie hit the ground on instinct, minimising her profile and pressing herself against the nearest piece of substantial cover, before peering out carefully in the direction that the light had come from.

There, not 5m from her position, was Plasmius.

It was probably good for her that he had obviously not been expecting to see such destruction wrought on his lab, and so his focus was on the crumbling remains of his now defunct property rather than looking for anything out of place; like a young ghost hunter in none-too-subtle red and black armour.

"Well, well, I take it from the evidence of Daniel's little temper tantrum here that that blasted experiment is finally taken care of. A pity I could not collect data on her last moments, the information would have been invaluable for my research."

Valerie took a moment to control her breathing and heart rate after she realised he wasn't addressing her or anyone else in particular, simply monologuing to himself. Of course, all that work was undone when he mentioned her own name.

"And Miss Grey, that truly was a shock. I thought her hatred would sufficiently insulate her from Daniel's abnormal charisma, but it seems I was mistaken. The child has truly amazing potential; if only he would be willing to accept my offer… Still, the loss of Miss Grey is of little consequence, she always was a mad dog; a useful, but in the end disposable, pawn. Though it still remains to be seen if she will need to be put down…"

To say Valerie was horrified would barely cover it. Here she was, listening to some psychotic ghost ramble on to himself as if he had some sort of control over her; not to mention the fact that he had likened her to a mad dog and threatened to kill her.

Was she really that bad?

The months of hate-fuelled battles against Phantom and the sad remnants of her social life attested that yes, she actually was that bad.

Heck, she had killed whatever chance she had with one of the more decent guys at school just so she could keep hunting Phantom and fulfil her personal vendetta.

Before she could get lost too deeply in her own introspection, she was once again interrupted by a brilliant burst of energy. Peeking out from her cover to where Plasmius had been standing just minutes before she could see nothing, but a figure silhouetted against the rising Sun, about 20m away matched his profile exactly. That is, of course, until he moved out of the silhouetting light and Valerie caught a good look at the man.

He was dressed in an impeccably maintained and pressed business suit and his long silvery hair was slicked back into a surprisingly elegant ponytail. Everything about his figure screamed professionalism; from the perfectly trimmed facial hair to the angular lines of his clothing. And of course she recognised the man, everyone in Amity Park, heck probably most of America, would recognise the man.

Vlad Masters, Mayor of Amity Park and multi-billionaire owner of DALV Corporation.

And, supposedly, the man behind all of this.

He seemed to be talking on a satellite phone of some kind, though he was too far away for Valerie to make out anything coherent from the conversation, but whatever it was about, it hadn't lasted long as Mr Masters pocketed the phone, before doing something that would, for the umpteenth time today, gobble up Valerie's little world, chew it up, spit it out, and then set fire to it for good measure.

A pair of dark, energetic rings washed over his body and suddenly it was no longer Vlad Masters standing there, but Plasmius.

The implications hit Valerie like a Freight Train.

Mayor Master's was half ghost, and his Ghost side was Plasmius; sadistic, cruel Plasmius, the ghost that had committed all of the atrocities she had seen today.

It was a testament to the suit's integrated medical systems that she didn't go into shock right then and there after everything that had happened in the last 24 hours.

And then suddenly, he was gone, vanished in a wash of light, just like when he had fled the lab, and Valerie was left alone with only the creaking rubble and her jumbled thoughts to keep her company.

Remembering the Hard-Drive and the fact that she had been gone all evening and, judging by the now rising Sun, all night too, she decided that she would need to return to Amity Park as soon as she could; who knows how long it would take her without Phantom's assistance, after all.

* * *

After four hours of flying on autopilot (no, seriously, her suit had an autopilot function in it, just in case she ever needed to make a long flight, like that one), she had finally made it back to Amity Park.

During the flight back she had worked out a plan of action. She had to get the Hard-Drive to Phantom, but since he was nigh-on-impossible to pin down at the best of times, she needed to give it to someone he trusted, which only provided one real option; the Fenton's.

A couple of weeks ago, the Fenton's had officially voiced their support for Phantom, and announced that they would be allying themselves with him to help defend the Town. Valerie had been pretty bitter about it but now she was beginning to understand why they might have suddenly stopped hunting him.

Regardless, all she needed to do was get the Hard-Drive to the Fenton's and then they could pass it on to Phantom. Hopefully he would get something useful from it, maybe even something that could help Danielle.

After that, she had intended to go home and try to explain everything to her Dad, but instead she had found herself wandering the park, lost in her own thoughts, specifically centred around one black and silver clad spectre.

* * *

**...End Flashback \\\/**

* * *

And that was the other problem.

Phantom…

She was finally able to admit to herself that Phantom was not, in fact, evil and manipulative. Certainly not like Plasmius was…

She wasn't sure if she trusted him, but Valerie could now honestly say that her first reaction towards him would no longer be shoot first, shoot second and shoot third. And looking back, she also realised that that hadn't been her first reaction for some months now; she had had to force her anger to the surface, demonising him in her mind in an effort to maintain her original rage until the image she had of him bore no resemblance to the individual in question.

Which made her firsthand viewing of the _real _Phantom all the more shocking.

He was far more terrifying in reality than anything she could have made him out to be in her mind. The raw power he commanded, the aura of authority he projected, and the destruction he could cause at a moment's notice…

Nothing could have prepared her for that.

And yet, she didn't want to destroy him as threat anymore; somehow that show of power and the pure emotion he expressed when he thought his Daughter was dead, it showed her that he _wasn't _a threat. He was dangerous, of course, quite possibly the most dangerous ghost anyone had seen since Pariah Dark, but he had consistently used his power for the benefit of others, rather than himself.

All of this time, he could have easily destroyed any of his enemies; the Fenton's, the GIW, Valerie herself, any one of the dozens of ghosts that attempt to cause havoc in the town. If he wanted to, he could eradicate or control the entire populace, instead of protecting it and still putting up with the people that scorned and despised him, or those who tried to hunt him down like an animal.

In hindsight, she could quite clearly see that he was, in fact, a Hero, as a number of people had claimed. He used his power for the benefit of others, even when they _really_ didn't deserve it.

And she had spent the better part of two years trying to kill him. What the hell did that make her? Certainly not what she was trying to be when she became the Red Huntress.

But even if she ignored all of the Phantom-related thoughts flying about her head, there was also the whole Half-Ghost thing. How does that even work!?

She knew it was real, that it was possible; she had, after all, witnessed the proof in two different individuals, but that didn't make it much easier to believe.

And the fact that Mr Masters, their _Mayor_, was one, made everything Valerie knew suspect, especially anything that _he_ had told her; which, looking back on it, was most of what she thought she knew about Ghosts.

Damn it…

Yeah, Valerie's current confusion was pretty understandable, all things considered. What she really needed was something nice and simple, a black and white situation, not something utterly, ah… grey.

"Beware! For I am the Box Ghost!"

That'll work.

* * *

Unaware of Valerie's current moral crisis or the Box Ghost's current status as the focal point for all of her misplaced aggression, Danny and Sam were watching Dani sleep peacefully once more after hours of talking and laughing together.

"Come on, we should get back to Tucker and your folks; we need to work out a game plan for all of this," Sam said as she managed to tear her eyes away from her sleeping daughter (Daughter!).

"Yeah, you're right, but what do we need a plan for? Vlad won't risk showing his face around here for a while now that Valerie isn't his easily manipulated pawn anymore," Danny replied, also eventually looking away from Danielle and towards his equally captivating girlfriend.

"Think about it Danny, if Danielle just shows up out of nowhere, people are going to ask questions; none of which can be answered without seriously compromising your secret. We need to work out some sort of cover story," Danny opened his mouth to say something, but Sam cut him off, "and no, calling her your 'long lost cousin' is not a valid cover story."

Danny promptly closed his mouth again.

Suppressing a chuckle, Sam stood up and grabbed his hand, all but dragging him back down the stairs, to find the rest of the Fenton Family arrayed around the kitchen and living room.

"How is she? And, really, how are you two? It's not every day you find out that you're parents," Maddie asked gently as the pair took a seat at the table.

"Danielle's fine, sleeping again at the moment, but she seemed great when she woke up. And we're…" he glanced at Sam for confirmation, receiving a small smile and reassuring nod in return, "we're good. I don't think it's really sunk in yet, but we're okay. I think we actually kind of _want_ this, even if this wasn't exactly how we thought it'd go," Danny said, his eyes still staring into Sam's and their hands still intertwined.

Maddie would have 'Awwwe'd' at how affectionate they were with each other, but it would have completely ruined the scene; so she planned to give them a moment before continuing on as if they hadn't just been focusing on each other to the exclusion of everything else for the past minute or so.

But she was a woman of science, and she felt the need to test a theory of hers that had been nagging her for months now.

"Well if you two Lovebirds are ready, Dinner should be done s-" she began only to be cut-off by the hypothesised and seemingly instinctual reaction.

"We're not Love-" they both began in unison, before realising exactly what they were in the process of denying.

Queue synchronised, awkward, slack-jawed halt in speech patterns; followed closely, of course, by substantial increase in blood flow to the facial region and simultaneous nervous glances at each other.

Tucker's laugh could be heard from the Lab as he quickly worked out what had caused their spontaneous shout and equally abrupt halt.

"We can't really argue against that anymore can we?" Danny asked somewhat rhetorically, though still looking at Sam.

"Nope!" came the resounding call from the other three members of the Fenton family, Tucker still laughing loudly from down in the lab.

"And I'm totally fine with that," Sam confirmed as she gave him a quick peck, before offering her assistance to Maddie in setting out the table.

Danny smiled contentedly as he considered going to wake Danielle up so she could come to Dinner; she would have to be starving after everything she had been through. But then he remembered it was _his parent's_ cooking, and he couldn't help but think that it was probably for the best that she was still asleep. He would make sure she was up for Breakfast tomorrow, after he had made it.

After all, he wanted her first meal with a family to actually be edible.


	10. Fears and Promises

**Disclaimer:** I do not own 'Danny Phantom' or any of the characters, concepts etc. Those are owned by Butch Hartman/Nickelodeon, I believe. I make no claim to anything in this story, it is a perspective with hypothetical scenarios added in.

* * *

**The Events That Shape Us**

**Ch10: Fears and Promises**

* * *

If Dani had of known that her Father was considering waking her up to bring her to dinner, she would have happily risked the elder Fenton's cooking; it couldn't be any worse than what she experiencing now.

She writhed in her bed, blankets and sheets tossed away by her unconscious struggling as her sleeping mind tormented itself with memories and twisted visions of what so nearly was.

She was a strong girl, and she had experienced more than anyone ever should, particularly at her age, but those experiences weighed heavily on her. Even her stubborn determination couldn't keep her subconscious in check when the uncertainty of sleep claimed her.

It wouldn't be the first time she had experienced these nightmarish visions of her past; in her time travelling she had experienced many a sleepless night caused by her memories of Vlad's betrayal and experimentation. But last night… everything about it was a fresh scar on her mind, etching itself into every one of her thoughts and overwhelming her feeble attempts to hide from her own memories.

She jerked awake, her strangled cry becoming a pitiful whimper as she frantically tried to gather up what blankets remained within her grasp, burying herself within their warmth and protection. But no matter how deep she went or how many blankets she covered herself with, she couldn't escape the sound of his laugh, or the burning red eyes that seemed to be watching her from every dark corner.

In her head, she knew it was pathetic; they were just memories, figments of her own imagination, she didn't have to be scared of them, and she _definitely _didn't need to let her parents know she was afraid.

But frankly, she didn't really care what her head thought. All she knew was that at that moment, she _needed_ her parents; she needed to be wrapped up in their arms, and she needed to be told everything would be alright.

So of course she did the most rational thing her mind could think of at the time; she grabbed a blanket, wrapped it closely around her body, and ran full tilt down the dark corridor towards the stairs.

* * *

Danny thought he had heard noise coming from upstairs, and he was instantly on high alert. A quick glance towards Sam told him that she had heard it too and was now equally ready to fight, if need be. He was about to leave the table when the source of the disturbance appeared, peeking cautiously around the corner with a blanket gripped tightly in-hand and eyes wide in unimaginable terror. The whole effect made Danielle seem much younger than her appearance would normally indicate.

Danny and Sam were out of their seats and by her side in record time.

Before either of them could say anything, she had flung herself into their arms, and soon muffled, tear-drenched whimpering could be heard emanating from the girl, protectively encircled by her new parents.

No one had to say anything; they all knew why she was there.

Nightmares.

And not the garden-variety nightmares that most people have, but ones drawn straight from your own memories and subconscious, the ones that force you to relive the moments you most wish you could forget.

And silent nod and a sympathetic look from his parents were all that was needed for Danny to hoist Danielle into his arms and carry her back up the stairs, while Sam carried the discarded blanket, dropped in favour of her parents' arms, while whispering gently in her ear.

Neither of them spoke as Danny carefully laid the still fearful girl down in the guest double-bed, and neither of them spoke as they climbed in on either side of her.

Nor did they speak as Danielle wrapped her arms frantically around Sam, or as Sam returned the embrace with equal emotion.

They didn't speak when Danny pulled the sheets and the blankets and the duvets up to cover them all in a canopy of warmth, or as he embraced both girls.

They remained silent even when Jazz quietly came in and flicked the lights off and whispered a good night.

But in the darkness, wrapped in each other's arms and with their daughter held tightly between them, they whispered a promise to her.

"Whatever happens Danielle, we will _always_ be here for you, no matter what. _Always_."


	11. Ice-cream Bonding Session

**Disclaimer:** I do not own 'Danny Phantom' or any of the characters, concepts etc. Those are owned by Butch Hartman/Nickelodeon, I believe. I make no claim to anything in this story, it is a perspective with hypothetical scenarios added in.

* * *

**The Events That Shape Us**

**Ch11: Ice-cream Bonding Session**

* * *

It had taken nearly two weeks, but the Fenton's, Tucker and Sam had developed a back-story for Danielle that they could all agree on.

It was decided that Danny, as Phantom, would claim he found her wandering by herself in the Ghost Zone, presumably after stumbling upon a Natural Portal. And due to his well-known partnership with the Fenton's, he will insist that they be given temporary custody of her while Child Service's search for her parents, on the pretence that she may have been adversely affected by prolonged exposure to the Ghost Zone.

When Child Service's is unable to locate Dani's parents (for obvious reasons), Jack and Maddie will apply for temporary custody, becoming her foster parents until Danny and Sam reach a point where they are stable enough to officially adopt her.

In a way, it was an elegant, simple lie as it neatly explained her lack of paperwork and official records, while making it easy for Danny and Sam to take custody of her in the near future. It also minimised the impact on Danielle (which she really didn't need after everything she had been through) and it provided a plausible cover should she ever accidentally reveal herself to have ghost powers in some way; after all, who knows what years of exposure to the Ghost Zone could do to a person…

Of course, it did raise certain problems for Dani, however.

The most obvious one was that she would, at least in the immediate future, be relatively famous once word of the story got around, and there was no way to know how she'd deal with suddenly being thrust into the spotlight. This media focus would help keep Vlad away, for a brief time at least, so that was good, but the effects of her minor celebrity status would hound her for much of her life, particularly if she attended a school.

Home schooling was the most prudent option, at least for the next couple of years, but Danny, Sam and Jazz all agreed that it would be good for her to experience at least a couple of years of High School and the ups and downs that go with it, both socially and emotionally. They hoped that within two years or so, most people would have largely forgotten about the girl from the Ghost Zone and Dani would have had the time to catch up on everything she would need to know to enrol in a school grade equivalent to her physical age.

The other problem that could eventuate would be the GIW, but even they wouldn't be dumb enough to try and take (and by extension, experiment on) a traumatised little girl, the public outcry could be very damaging to them and their political overseers. And if that potential damage didn't stop them, then Sam had more than enough resources and experience to start a rather effective protest, plus the majority of the town now saw Phantom in a favourable light and would listen if he were say anything on the matter.

With everyone agreed and Dani literally bouncing of the walls in excitement at finally having a family, they made the first phone call that would set their plan into motion.

* * *

Valerie found herself wandering in the park once again, now that her grounding was over; turns out her Dad wasn't all that happy with her all-night excursion.

She had spent most of the time thinking over how everything that happened with Danielle had changed things, particularly how to deal with Phantom now. This was a rather rare thing for Valerie, not because she didn't think often (she is a highly intelligent and capable individual, after all), but because she preferred to go out and deal directly with whatever the situation was; but this was a situation in which there was to direct solution or obvious plan of action.

And being restricted to her house and school hadn't helped, either.

But she did have a plan now.

She needed to find Phantom and get some of her questions answered, first and foremost amongst them being if Danielle was okay. Yeah, she still felt quite bad about everything she had put the young girl through; thinking back on it, she realised that even if she had of been a full ghost, she still would have felt pretty damn terrible about it. In hindsight it was so obvious that Danielle, Phantom and at least a couple of the other ghosts were actually intelligent, emotional and, well, _human_; Valerie still couldn't believe she treated them so viciously.

The way she had dealt with Dani… her screaming, pleading voice still haunted her mind, and with the knowledge that she had _caused_ some of that pain and fear and had a pivotal hand in causing the rest… there was nothing she could do to wipe that from her memory

And Phantom… she still wasn't entirely convinced that he was as benevolent as he claimed, but she _was_ convinced that she had jumped to conclusions and let her hate blind her to the truth, whatever that may have been.

Still, it was never too late to find out (she hoped), so that was what she was trying to do now, wandering around the town and hoping Phantom might show up.

…

Yeah, this could take a while…

* * *

"Hey Sam, I was thinking that maybe we should take Dani out for a bit, let her see the town before the media circus erupts," Danny said quietly as the movie the three of them had been watching came to an end.

Dani had settled into life in the Fenton Household quite quickly and she had been almost inseparable from Danny for the last two weeks, and she was even worse with Sam when she came over, which was even more frequently nowadays.

She was curled into a small ball between her parents, having fallen asleep towards the end of the movie; apparently psycho-thrillers just weren't her thing.

Sam seemed to consider Danny's suggestion for a moment before nodding emphatically.

"Sure, you got anything in particular in mind?"

"Well I was thinking maybe we could go out for ice-cream? Actually, it was Valerie that suggested it, believe it or not, but I think it's a good idea," Danny said, somewhat nervously.

Sam and Valerie weren't exactly the best of friends, to say the least. Danny had always attributed that to the fact that Valerie was trying to kill his alter-ego, which was certainly a fair enough reason in hindsight, but now that they were dating he couldn't help but wonder if jealousy might have factored in to a degree…

Regardless, they didn't always get a long, and it wasn't helped by the fact that they were both highly opinionated and more than willing to voice, and act on, that opinion, consequences be damned. But apparently Sam didn't really care where the idea had originated from, Valerie or not, and she readily accepted the proposition.

"Sounds good, we just need to wake sleeping beauty up and then we can go," Sam said, casting a quick glance down to the sleeping girl between them.

"Shouldn't we ask her if she wants to go first?" Danny asked in mock indignation, the small smile giving away his humorous intent.

"Right, because _so_ many kids turn down the chance to go for ice-cream," she smirked in reply, trademark sarcasm on full display.

"Hey, I just wanted to be polite! Besides, you just want to indoctrinate her into your 'Cult of the Gummy Bat Sprinkles'," he shot back in an overly dramatic tone, referring to Sam's long-time favourite ice-cream topping which she had only recently convinced him to try.

"You like them and you know it, so stop complaining about how I made your favourite ice-cream even better," she replied as she rolled her eyes at his over-the-top display.

"But the whole point about vanilla is that you don't _need_ to add anything to it, but now it just tastes… wrong without them," Danny sulked, a slight pout visible on his features.

Their light-hearted banter was interrupted by a sleepy yawn as the original topic of their discussion began to awake.

"Come on sleepy, we're going to get some ice-cream, so you'd better hurry if you want to come…" Sam goaded, hoping to startle the young halfa into wakefulness.

It worked.

Upon the mention of ice-cream, Danielle's face went from sleep-addled incomprehension to wide-eyed excitement in approximately half a second.

"I'm up! I'm up!" She shouted as she, true to her words, jumped to her feet.

Danny and Sam shared a knowing glance and then simultaneously burst out laughing, much to their daughter's indignation.

"Come on, get up! I thought you said we were going to get ice-cream!" She whined as her parents tried to control their laughter, without much success. Dani just huffed in annoyance as she waited impatiently.

"While it's good that you're up, you might want to get some shoes before we go, and maybe some clothes that _aren't_ PJ's," Danny pointed out when he stopped laughing at his daughter's antics.

Naturally, Danielle looked down at her current attire, noticed the truth of his statement and with a small squeak of surprise, darted upstairs to get changed.

"Wow, she's actually worse than you," Sam commented drolly, ducking the pillow that came her way immediately after.

* * *

At this particular moment, Valerie was quite certain she was actually hallucinating, because right there, on the other side of the road, was Danielle, Phantom's daughter, eating an ice-cream.

She closed her eyes, counted to five and looked again, expecting the strange trick her mind pulled to be gone, but it was not to be. She was still there, happily munching on an overloaded ice-cream cone and flanked by, of all people, Sam Manson and Danny Fenton, also holding their own ice-creams.

Now she was quite certain she was losing her mind.

This theory was reinforced when the first coherent thought she managed to form led to a cascade of thoughts that went something like this:

'_Huh, well I guess he took my advice._

_But wait, I recommended ice-cream to Phantom, not Danny! And what connection does he even have to Danielle!? Why would I even make that connection? It not like they have any… thing… in… common…_

_… oh you have got to be kidding me!_

_There is no way it's something that freaking obvious!_'

Her mind then proceeded to re-orient everything she knew about Phantom and compared it to Danny. The correlations were remarkable, to say the least. But that was impossible, Phantom was a ghost and Danny was quite clearly alive, unless…

_ "They're rare, very rare. You could count them all on one hand. And they go to great lengths to keep it a secret, from people like you in particular."_

That's what Phantom had said about halfa's, and while it didn't prove he was one, it would certainly fit; years of strange behaviour on the part of both Danny and Phantom might just make sense if they were, in fact, the same person. But she couldn't help but think that there was something else he had said…

_"I guess he failed to mention that she is actually half human, or that she is little more than two years old after he created her in his lab, from my DNA."_

_"From _my_ DNA."_

That was it! Ghosts, normal ghosts, didn't have DNA, they didn't have any sort of genetic structure, but a halfa would…

It was at that moment that the realisation fully hit.

'Phantom is a halfa… Danny Fenton _is _Phantom. It's crazy but… it makes sense; in a weird, convoluted way, it makes sense.'

Thoughts blurred through her mind, mostly centring on how the bastard hadn't told her (even when they were briefly dating!), and how much of a bastard she must be for actively spending years of her life actively attempting to kill one of her few friends.

Now at this point, the best decision probably would have been to quietly return to her house and take the time to think everything through, but Valerie had already spent two weeks thinking through stuff; so this time she defaulted to what she does best, dealing with the problem head on.

* * *

The rather abnormal family unit of Danny, Sam and Danielle were walking back towards FentonWorks, savouring their frozen treats.

Danny had got a double scoop of Vanilla (with Gummy Bats), Sam had got a single of the Boysenberry (with Gummy Bats) and Danielle had gotten a triple scoop of Cookie Dough (with chocolate sauce, sour worms, chocolate sprinkles and, of course, Gummy Bats). She looked almost comical wrestling with the over-sized ice-cream while Sam and Danny just shared a mischievous smirk; Jazz was going to be babysitting a soon-to-be sugar hyped Danielle tonight while they went out on a date, and boy was she in for one crazy night.

Of course, their slightly malevolent mirth was quickly doused when they saw Valerie striding towards them, and looking quite purposeful about it too.

Upon seeing her former captor, Danielle made to hide behind her parents while they simultaneously moved forward to place themselves between her and Valerie.

"I knew I forgot something when we were coming up with that plan," Danny whispered to Sam as they waited guardedly for Valerie to reach them.

"And what would that be?" she hissed back.

"Valerie kind of knows about Danielle being a halfa, and I told her that she was Phantom's daughter…" Danny admitted sheepishly.

"WHAT!" Sam exclaimed, as quietly as she could manage. She would have launched into a far more verbose and probably painful tirade, had not Valerie finally reached the trio by that point.

"Fenton, we need to talk," she demanded, not bothering with the usual social niceties.

"Alright then, talk," Danny replied, as he felt his body tense ever so slightly in preparation for a fight.

* * *

Valerie took a short moment to study the boy in front of her. On the surface, it was the Danny Fenton she knew, the same clothes, the same hair, the same _everything_. But if she just ignored the colour of his hair and eyes and the baggy clothes he wore, then a very different person emerged, and she knew that she was right.

The thinly veiled steel in his voice, his rigid, tense posture and the cold, coiled darkness in his eyes… those were Phantom, through and through. More specifically, they were Phantom when he was _angry_, and that was not a display Valerie ever wanted to see again, least of all directed at her.

Glancing around quickly she realised that Sam was just as tense as Danny was, maybe even more so, and even Danielle seemed ready to fight if she needed to, determination shining through the fear visible in her expression.

Of course, she was the reason everyone was so tense, so she had to be the one to de-escalate everything before one of them did something they'd all regret.

Taking a moment to calm herself down, she took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly, a calming technique she had found worked wonders for her often short temper.

"Look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be so confrontational, it's just… the last couple of weeks have been crazy for me, like _really_ crazy, even by Amity Park standards; and if I'm right, you know exactly why, and if not, then it just goes to show you how crazy I must be at the moment to have even though it up."

Danny said nothing, but she could see him visibly uncoil ever so slightly and his icy gaze contained a hint of sympathy now rather than outright hostility.

Taking that as a positive sign, Valerie continued.

"If you could just answer one question for me, I swear after that I'll leave you guys alone, but I just _really_ need to know."

The scrutiny of his gaze made her think that he probably had a pretty good idea about what that one question was, but still he nodded, giving her the go ahead to ask it.

"Alright Danny, I just need to know… are you Phantom?"

Even as she said it, she heard how ridiculous it sounded, but she also knew it was true, she would have bet her life on it.

Danny head drooped ever so slightly before turning to lock eyes with both Sam and Danielle. Sam nodded back almost imperceptibly while Danielle just stared in wide-eyed fear between Danny and herself. Sighing audibly, Danny stepped forward, pushing them protectively behind himself as he faced directly up to her.

"Yes Valerie, I am Phantom."


	12. Epilogue: Worth It

**Disclaimer:** I do not own 'Danny Phantom' or any of the characters, concepts etc. Those are owned by Butch Hartman/Nickelodeon, I believe. I make no claim to anything in this story, it is a perspective with hypothetical scenarios added in.

* * *

**The Events That Shape Us**

**Epilogue: Worth It**

* * *

**3 Years Later...**

"It came! It came! It came!"

The excited cries preceded Danielle's entrance by little more than a second as the young girl came flying, literally, into the room.

Even though it had been three years since she had started living with the Fenton family, she didn't look a day over thirteen, and her excitable nature hadn't blunted in the slightest. She was clutching a thick manila envelope to her chest as she darted about the living room, occasionally phasing through obstructing walls when she underestimated her speed.

Sam looked on in amusement as she fiddled subconsciously with the ring on her finger. If she were honest with herself, she was just as excited about the contents of that folder as her daughter was. She knew the result was all but assured, but she couldn't help but feel a hint of anxiety at the possibility that their application may have been rejected.

It had been three years, three years since Danielle had suddenly come flying into her life, and she couldn't have been happier for it. Admittedly, it wasn't _exactly_ how she had expected to have her first child, in fact the only thing about the whole situation that bore any resemblance to what she had planned was the fact that Danny was the father, but she wouldn't trade Danielle for the world. And it meant she didn't have to deal with pregnancy, child-birth or the new-born phase, so that was something of a bonus, even if she did sometimes wish she could have that sort of history and experience with Danielle.

It had aggravated her over the years that she couldn't truly acknowledge Dani as her daughter and while she may never truly be able to do so due to her unique genesis, the contents of that envelope would hopefully bring her and Danny that much closer to their goal.

Speak of the Halfa, her husband walked carefully into the room before snatching a laughing Danielle out of mid-air and bringing her down into a strong embrace, whilst simultaneously phasing the envelope away from her grasp while she was distracted.

Tossing the package to Sam with a wink, he turned his attention back to his hyperactive daughter. They still looked remarkably similar, but now that Danny had aged another three years and really filled out his form, while Danielle had done rather little in the growth department, they looked far more like the father and daughter they were, rather than slightly mismatched twins.

"A little excited, are we?" he asked with a laugh as she wormed her way deeper into his hug.

The bobbing of pony-tailed black hair was his only response.

"How about we open it up and see what it says?"

Danielle quickly pulled herself away from his embrace with a smile as she went to hold up the envelope, only to stare wide-eyed at her now empty hands. She began looking around wildly, trying to locate the renegade bundle of paper.

Danny and Sam only managed to hold their snickering in for ten seconds before they gave in and burst out laughing, Sam holding out the beige envelope towards a confused and somewhat indignant Danielle.

She harrumphed and snatched the file away, fixing both of her parents with a half-hearted glare. She began to break the seal on the envelope while she waited for them to collect themselves, the slight tremor in her hand and the anxious glint in her eyes betraying the cocktail of emotions she was feeling right now.

She was on the cusp of being part of a legally recognised family! And with her actual parents, at that!

It had been really hard, waiting for three years, but Aunt Jazz had said that Mum and Dad needed to show that they would be a stable family for her, which meant getting married and having some sort of consistent income.

The latter was a bit difficult at first, what with Danny's other commitments, but Sam had been head-hunted for an internship part way through her Veterinary degree, with the promise of a full-time position when she graduated. Additionally, Danny was undertaking an Engineering degree part time and working for his parents on their inventions.

The former, however, was much less of a problem. Yeah, neither of them really had any qualms about that.

They had been married for six months now, their income had be stable, they had their own place to live and were on top of the repayments and the aftermath of Vlad's final attempt to manipulate Danny had begun to subside. To say they were eager to get the adoption process underway would have been a grand understatement. Heck, the only person more excited about the idea than Danielle was, was Danny. He could barely wait, and it took Sam and Jazz both to convince him to calm down and take things carefully.

And now she held the official response in her hand.

Now she almost didn't want to know what it said, just in case.

But seeing the gentle smiles on her parents' faces, she took a steadying breath and tore open the rest of the seal, pulling out the certificate at the top of the bundle of papers.

_This certificate acknowledges the successful application for adoption of _

Danielle Doe

_by _

Daniel James Fenton _and_ Samantha Ruth Fenton-Manson

_By the Authorization of the Head of Child Services_

James Donaldson

It was surprising that her squeal of joy didn't shatter every window in a two block radius.

Her parents laughed and hugged and kissed, before quickly ushering her into their embrace and squeezing tightly.

They stayed like that for some time, just letting months of nerves and anxiety and fear rush out them in choked laughs and whispered words.

After three years, it was finally over, they were a family.

* * *

**[AN: Another story down, thanks for reading this far, particularly if you've been reading through all my Danny Phantom stories; I can only hope you are enjoying them.**

**Anyway, tell me what you thought, if you have any question/queries/concerns/complaints, etc. etc.**

**Thanks again! /AN]**


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